We determine the band structure and spin texture of WTe2 by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES). With the support of first-principles calculations, we reveal the existence of spin polarization of both the Fermi arc surface states and bulk Fermi pockets. Our results support WTe2 to be a type-II Weyl semimetal candidate and provide important information to understand its extremely large and nonsaturating magnetoresistance.
Quantum topological materials, exemplified by topological insulators, three-dimensional Dirac semimetals and Weyl semimetals, have attracted much attention recently because of their unique electronic structure and physical properties. Very lately it is proposed that the three-dimensional Weyl semimetals can be further classified into two types. In the type I Weyl semimetals, a topologically protected linear crossing of two bands, i.e., a Weyl point, occurs at the Fermi level resulting in a point-like Fermi surface. In the type II Weyl semimetals, the Weyl point emerges from a contact of an electron and a hole pocket at the boundary resulting in a highly tilted Weyl cone. In type II Weyl semimetals, the Lorentz invariance is violated and a fundamentally new kind of Weyl Fermions is produced that leads to new physical properties. WTe2 is interesting because it exhibits anomalously large magnetoresistance. It has ignited a new excitement because it is proposed to be the first candidate of realizing type II Weyl Fermions. Here we report our angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) evidence on identifying the type II Weyl Fermion state in WTe2. By utilizing our latest generation laser-based ARPES system with superior energy and momentum resolutions, we have revealed a full picture on the electronic structure of WTe2. Clear surface state has been identified and its connection with the bulk electronic states in the momentum and energy space shows a good agreement with the calculated band structures with the type II Weyl states. Our results provide spectroscopic evidence on the observation of type II Weyl states in WTe2. It has laid a foundation for further exploration of novel phenomena and physical properties in the type II Weyl semimetals.
We report angle-resolved photoemission experiments resolving the distinct electronic structure of the inequivalent top and bottom (001) surfaces of WTe2. On both surfaces, we identify a surface state that forms a large Fermi-arc emerging out of the bulk electron pocket. Using surface electronic structure calculations, we show that these Fermi arcs are topologically trivial and that their existence is independent of the presence of type-II Weyl points in the bulk band structure. This implies that the observation of surface Fermi arcs alone does not allow the identification of WTe2 as a topological Weyl semimetal. We further use the identification of the two different surfaces to clarify the number of Fermi surface sheets in WTe2.
Using Hall photovoltage measurements, we demonstrate that an anomalous Hall-voltage can be induced in few layer WTe2 under circularly polarized light illumination. By applying a bias voltage along different crystal axes, we find that the photo-induced anomalous Hall conductivity coincides with a particular crystal axis. Our results are consistent with the underlying Berry-curvature exhibiting a dipolar distribution due to the breaking of crystal inversion symmetry. Using a time-resolved optoelectronic auto-correlation spectroscopy, we find that the decay time of the anomalous Hall voltage exceeds the electron-phonon scattering time by orders of magnitude but is consistent with the comparatively long spin-lifetime of carriers in the momentum-indirect electron and hole pockets in WTe2. Our observation suggests, that a helical modulation of an otherwise isotropic spin-current is the underlying mechanism of the anomalous Hall effect.
As one of Weyl semimetals discovered recently, NbP exhibits two groups of Weyl points with one group lying inside the $k_z=0$ plane and the other group staying away from this plane. All Weyl points have been assumed to be type-I, for which the Fermi surface shrinks into a point as the Fermi energy crosses the Weyl point. In this work, we have revealed that the second group of Weyl points are actually type-II, which are found to be touching points between the electron and hole pockets in the Fermi surface. Corresponding Weyl cones are strongly tilted along a line approximately $17^circ$ off the $k_z$ axis in the $k_x - k_z$ (or $k_y - k_z$) plane, violating the Lorentz symmetry but still giving rise to Fermi arcs on the surface. Therefore, NbP exhibits both type-I ($k_z=0$ plane) and type-II ($k_z eq 0$ plane) Weyl points.
Photo sensing and energy harvesting based on exotic properties of quantum materials and new operation principles have great potentials to break the fundamental performance limit of conventional photodetectors and solar cells. As topological nontrivial materials, Weyl semimetals have demonstrated novel optoelectronic properties that promise potential applications in photo detection and energy harvesting arising from their gapless linear dispersion near Weyl nodes and Berry field enhanced nonlinear optical effect at the vicinity of Weyl nodes. In this work, we demonstrate robust photocurrent generation from charge separation of photoexctied electron-hole pairs at the edge of Td-WTe2, a type-II Weyl semimetal, due to crystalline-symmetry breaking along certain crystal fracture directions and possibly enhanced by robust fermi-arc type surface states. Using scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) measurements, we further demonstrate that the edge current response is robust over a wide excitation photon energy. We find that this robust feature is highly generic, and shall arise universally in a wide class of quantum materials with similar crystal symmetries. In addition, possible connections between these edge photocurrents and topological properties of Weyl semimetals are explored. The robust and generic edge current response demonstrated in this work provides a new type of charge separation mechanism for photosensing and energy harvesting over broad wavelength range.