Topological Butterfly Nodal-line Semimetals

During my time at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), working with Nicholas Kioussis, I went on a quest to find new topological nodal line semimetals. I predicted that several compounds within the transition metal dipnictide family (XY₂; X=Zr,Hf; Y=P,As) would fall within this topological category. Our theoretical predictions were later validated experimentally for HfP₂ at the University of Florida by C. Sims and coworkers from the group of Prof. M. Neupane, confirming the presence of nodal lines through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). 

This led to our subsequent research on "butterfly-like" nodal line semimetals—materials where the nodal lines exhibit intricate, multi-loop structures resembling butterfly wings in momentum space. These materials expand the topological classifications and offer new opportunities for engineering exotic electronic states. 

Through this work, I contributed to expanding the known landscape of topological semimetals, bridging first-principles theory and experiment to uncover new quantum materials with potential applications in electronic and spintronic devices.