Discovery of the first Weyl fermion semimetal and topological Fermi arcs in TaAs
ORAL
Abstract
Weyl semimetals have opened a new era in condensed matter physics and materials science. They host Weyl fermions as emergent quasiparticles and admit a topological classification that protects Fermi arc surface states on the boundary. This unusual electronic structure has deep analogies with particle physics and leads to unique topological properties. We report the experimental discovery of the first Weyl semimetal, TaAs. We directly observe Fermi arcs on the surface, as well as the Weyl fermion cones and Weyl nodes in the bulk of TaAs single crystals. We find that Fermi arcs terminate on the Weyl fermion nodes, consistent with their topological character. Our work opens the field for the experimental study of Weyl fermions in physics and materials science.
*The work at Princeton and Princeton-led ARPES measurements were supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations EPiQS Initiative through grant GBMF4547 (Hasan) and by U.S. Department of Energy DE-FG-02-05ER46200.
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