Existence of semi-Dirac cones and symmetry of two-dimensional materials

There have been growing efforts to find new two-dimensional (2D) materials with anisotropic properties due to their potential applications in electronics. Although in such a search, a symmetry based analysis can be useful, it has not been reported so far. Using group theory we have found sufficient conditions for the existence of a linear dispersion in one direction and quadratic one in perpendicular direction, in the vicinity of points of symmetry in the Brillouin zone (BZ) of any non-magnetic, 2D material with negligible spin-orbit coupling. We have formulated a set of symmetry conditions that lead to the semi-Dirac dispersion and analyzed all possible symmetries of 2D materials. In four, out of all eighty symmetry groups, combined time-reversal and crystal symmetry leads, at given points in the BZ, to such dispersion. The result is valid irrespectively of strength of electronic correlations in the system, model used to calculate the band structure, or the actual crystal structure that realizes given groups. We have illustrated our findings using a tight-binding example.