Detection of hole pockets in the candidate type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe₂ from Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations

The bulk electronic structure of T_d-MoTe₂ features large hole Fermi pockets at the BZ center (Γ) and two electron Fermi surfaces along the Γ-X direction. However, the large hole pockets, whose existence has important implications for the Weyl physics of MoTe₂, has never been conclusively detected in quantum oscillations. We report an unambiguous detection of these elusive hole pockets via Shubnikov–de Haas quantum oscillations. At ambient pressure, the quantum oscillation frequencies for these pockets are 988 and 1513T (B//c). Their large quasiparticle effective masses m* ndicating the importance of Coulomb interactions. Furthermore, at 13kbar, we detected a peak at 1798T, which experienced an amplitude enhancement relative to the low pressure data. This can be attributed to the reduced curvature of the hole pockets under pressure. Combining our data with DFT+U calculations, where U is the Hubbard parameter, our results shed light on why these important hole pockets have not been detected until now.