Flat band separation and robust spin-Berry curvature in bilayer kagome metals

Abstract

Kagome materials have emerged as a setting for emergent electronic phenomena that encompass different aspects of symmetry and topology. It is debated whether the XV$_6$Sn$_6$ kagome family (where X is a rare earth element), a recently discovered family of bilayer kagome metals, hosts a topologically non-trivial ground state resulting from the opening of spin-orbit coupling gaps. These states would carry a finite spin-Berry curvature, and topological surface states. Here, we investigate the spin and electronic structure of the XV$_6$Sn$_6$ kagome family. We obtain evidence for a finite spin-Berry curvature contribution at the center of the Brillouin zone, where the nearly flat band detaches from the dispersing Dirac band because of spin-orbit coupling. In addition, the spin-Berry curvature is further investigated in the charge density wave regime of ScV$_6$Sn$_6$, and it is found to be robust against the onset of the temperature-driven ordered phase. Utilizing the sensitivity of angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy to the spin and orbital angular momentum, our work unveils the spin-Berry curvature of topological kagome metals, and helps to define its spectroscopic fingerprint.