Quasiparticle Interference of Surface States in Type-II Weyl Semimetal WTe$_{\mathrm{2}}$

ORAL

Abstract

Topological Weyl semimetal (TWS) is a metal, where low energy excitations behave like Weyl fermions of high-energy physics. It was recently shown that due to the lower symmetry of condensed matter systems, they can realize two distinct types of Weyl fermions. The type-I Weyl fermion in a metal is formed by a linear crossing of two bands at a point in the crystalline momentum space - Brillouin zone (BZ). The second type TWSs host type-II Weyl points appearing at the touching points of electron and hole pockets, which is a result of tilted linear dispersion. The type-II TWS was predicted to exist in several compounds, including WTe$_{\mathrm{2}}$. Several ARPES studies of WTe$_{\mathrm{2}}$ were reported so far, having contradictory conclusions on the topological nature of observed Fermi arcs. In this work, we report the results of spectroscopic imaging with a scanning tunneling microscope and first principle calculations, establishing clear quasiparticle interference features of the surface states of WTe$_{\mathrm{2}}$. Our work provides a strong evidence for surface state scattering. Although the surface Fermi arcs are clearly observed, it is still difficult to prove the existence of predicted Type-II Weyl points in the bulk.

Authors

  • Wenhan Zhang

    • Rutgers University
  • QuanSheng Wu

    • ETH Zurich
  • Lunyong Zhang

    • Max Planck POSTECH/Korea Research Initiative
  • Sang-Wook Cheong

    • Rutgers University
  • Alexey Soluyanov

    • ETH Zurich
  • Weida Wu

    • Rutgers University