Imaging electronic states on topological Dirac and Weyl semimetals using scanning tunneling microscopy

Rövid cím: 
Imaging electronic states on Dirac and Weyl
Időpont: 
2016. 09. 27. 14:15
Hely: 
BME Fizikai Intézet, Elméleti Fizika Tanszék, Budafoki út 8. F-épület, III lépcsőház, szemináriumi szoba
Előadó: 
Andras Gyenis (Princeton)

Following the intense studies on topological insulators, significant efforts have recently been devoted to the search for gapless topological systems. These materials not only broaden the topological classification of matter but also provide a condensed matter realization of various relativistic particles and phenomena previously discussed mainly in high energy physics. Weyl semimetals host massless, chiral, low-energy excitations in the bulk electronic band structure, whereas a symmetry protected pair of Weyl fermions gives rise to massless Dirac fermions. On the surface, topological semimetals harbor protected states, with arced Fermi surface contours that are predicted to propagate through the bulk when their momentum matches that of the surface projections of the bulk's nodes. We employed scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy to explore the behavior of electronic states both on the surface and in the bulk of topological semimetal phases. By mapping the quasiparticle interference and emerging Landau levels at high magnetic field in Dirac semimetals Cd3As2 and Na3Bi, we observed extended Dirac-like bulk electronic bands. Quasiparticle interference imaged on Weyl semimetal TaAs demonstrated the predicted momentum dependent delocalization of Fermi arc surface states in the vicinity of the surface-projected Weyl nodes. Our findings provide evidence that Weyl nodes act as sinks for electron transport on the surface of these materials.

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