No Arabic abstract
Characterized by the absence of inversion symmetry, non-centrosymmetric materials are of great interest because they exhibit ferroelectricity, second harmonic generation, emergent Weyl fermions, and other fascinating phenomena. It is expected that if time-reversal symmetry is also broken, additional magneto-electric effects can emerge from the interplay between magnetism and electronic order. Here we report topological conducting properties in the non-centrosymmetric magnet PrAlGe. By photoemission spectroscopy, we observe an arc parametrizing surface-localized states---a topological arc. Using the bulk-boundary correspondence, we conclude that these arcs correspond to projected topological charges of $pm{1}$ in the surface Brillouin zone, demonstrating the presence of magnetic Weyl quasiparticles in bulk. We further observe a large anomalous Hall response, arising from diverging bulk Berry curvature fields associated with the magnetic Weyl band structure. Our results demonstrate a topological phase with robust electronic surface states and anomalous transport in a non-centrosymmetric magnet for the first time, providing a novel material platform to study the interplay between magnetic order, band topology and transport.
Three-dimensional (3D) topological Weyl semimetals (TWSs) represent a novel state of quantum matter with unusual electronic structures that resemble both a 3D graphene and a topological insulator by possessing pairs of Weyl points (through which the electronic bands disperse linearly along all three momentum directions) connected by topological surface states, forming the unique Fermi-arc type Fermi-surface (FS). Each Weyl point is chiral and contains half of the degrees of freedom of a Dirac point, and can be viewed as a magnetic monopole in the momentum space. Here, by performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on non-centrosymmetric compound TaAs, we observed its complete band structures including the unique Fermi-arc FS and linear bulk band dispersion across the Weyl points, in excellent agreement with the theoretical calculations. This discovery not only confirms TaAs as the first 3D TWS, but also provides an ideal platform for realizing exotic physical phenomena (e.g. negative magnetoresistance, chiral magnetic effects and quantum anomalous Hall effect) which may also lead to novel future applications.
Weyl semimetals are crystalline solids that host emergent relativistic Weyl fermions and have characteristic surface Fermi-arcs in their electronic structure. Weyl semimetals with broken time reversal symmetry are difficult to identify unambiguously. In this work, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we visualized the electronic structure of the ferromagnetic crystal Co3Sn2S2 and discovered its characteristic surface Fermi-arcs and linear bulk band dispersions across the Weyl points. These results establish Co3Sn2S2 as a magnetic Weyl semimetal that may serve as a platform for realizing phenomena such as chiral magnetic effects, unusually large anomalous Hall effect and quantum anomalous Hall effect.
The transition metal dipnictides TaAs2 , TaSb2 , NbAs2 and NbSb2 have recently sparked interest for exhibiting giant magnetoresistance. While the exact nature of magnetoresistance in these materials is still under active investigation, there are experimental results indicating anisotropic negative magnetoresistance. We study the effect of magnetic field on the band structure topology of these materials by applying a Zeeman splitting. In the absence of magnetic field, we find that the materials are weak topological insulators, which is in agreement with previous studies. When the magnetic field is applied, we find that type-II Weyl points form. This result is found first from a symmetry argument, and then numerically for a k.p model of TaAs2 and a tight-binding model of NbSb2. This effect can be of help in search for an explanation of the anomalous magnetoresistance in these materials.
We report the surface electronic structure of niobium phosphide NbP single crystal on (001) surface by vacuum ultraviolet angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Combining with our first principle calculations, we identify the existence of the Fermi arcs originated from topological surface states. Furthermore, the surface states exhibit circular dichroism pattern, which may correlate with its non-trivial spin texture. Our results provide critical evidence for the existence of the Weyl Fermions in NbP, which lays the foundation for further investigations.
The physical realization of Chern insulators is of fundamental and practical interest, as they are predicted to host the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) and topologically protected chiral edge states which can carry dissipationless current. The realization of the QAHE state has however been challenging because of the complex heterostructures and sub-Kelvin temperatures required. Time-reversal symmetry breaking Weyl semimetals, being essentially stacks of Chern insulators with inter-layer coupling, may provide a new platform for the higher temperature realization of robust QAHE edge states. In this work we present a combined scanning tunneling spectroscopy and theoretical investigation of a newly discovered magnetic Weyl semimetal, Co3Sn2S2. Using modeling and numerical simulations we find that chiral edge states can be localized on partially exposed Kagome planes on the surface of a Weyl semimetal. Correspondingly, our STM dI/dV maps on narrow kagome Co3Sn terraces show linearly dispersing quantum well like states, which can be attributed to hybridized chiral edge modes. Our experiment and theory results suggest a new paradigm for studying chiral edge modes in time-reversal breaking Weyl semimetals. More importantly, this work leads a practical route for realizing higher temperature QAHE.