Magnetic structures of REPdBi half-Heusler bismuthides (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er)

We present results of neutron diffraction on single crystals of several equiatomic ternary compounds of rare-earth elements with palladium and bismuth, crystallizing with cubic MgAgAs-type structure (half-Heusler phases). Band structure calculations showed that many members of that family possess electronic band inversion, which may lead to occurrence of topological insulator or topological semimetal. But even for the compounds without intrinsic band inversion another way of topologically non-trivial state realization, through a specific antiferromagnetic order, has been theoretically proposed. Our results show that the antiferromagnetic structures of all studied bismuthides are characterized by the propagation vector, allowing for antiferromagnetic topological insulator state. Therefore, the antiferromagnetic representatives of half-Heusler family are excellent candidates for extended investigations of coexistence of superconductivity, magnetic order and non-trivial topology of electronic states.