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Criteria for Directly Detecting Topological Fermi Arcs in Weyl Semimetals

Author(s): Belopolski, Ilya; Xu, Su-Yang; Sanchez, Daniel S.; Chang, Guoqing; Guo, Cheng; et al

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Abstract: The recent discovery of the first Weyl semimetal in TaAs provides the first observation of a Weyl fermion in nature and demonstrates a novel type of anomalous surface state, the Fermi arc. Like topological insulators, the bulk topological invariants of a Weyl semimetal are uniquely fixed by the surface states of a bulk sample. Here, we present a set of distinct conditions, accessible by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), each of which demonstrates topological Fermi arcs in a surface state band structure, with minimal reliance on calculation. We apply these results to TaAs and NbP. For the first time, we rigorously demonstrate a non-zero Chern number in TaAs by counting chiral edge modes on a closed loop. We further show that it is unreasonable to directly observe Fermi arcs in NbP by ARPES within available experimental resolution and spectral linewidth. Our results are general and apply to any new material to demonstrate a Weyl semimetal.
Publication Date: Feb-2016
Electronic Publication Date: 10-Feb-2016
Citation: Belopolski, Ilya, Xu, Su-Yang, Sanchez, Daniel S, Chang, Guoqing, Guo, Cheng, Neupane, Madhab, Zheng, Hao, Lee, Chi-Cheng, Huang, Shin-Ming, Bian, Guang, Alidoust, Nasser, Chang, Tay-Rong, Wang, Bao Kai, Zhang, Xiao, Bansil, Arun, Jeng, Horng-Tay, Lin, Hsin, Jia, Shuang, Hasan, M Zahid. (2016). Criteria for Directly Detecting Topological Fermi Arcs in Weyl Semimetals. Physical Review Letters, 116 (6), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.066802
DOI: doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.066802
ISSN: 0031-9007
EISSN: 1079-7114
Pages: 1 - 8
Type of Material: Journal Article
Journal/Proceeding Title: Physical Review Letters
Version: Author's manuscript



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