Atomic Scale Visualization of Quantum Interference on a Weyl Semimetal Surface by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy
Abstract
Weyl semimetals may open a new era in condensed matter physics, materials science and nanotech after graphene and topological insulators. We report the first atomic scale view of the surface states of a Weyl semimetal (NbP) using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy. We observe coherent quantum interference patterns that arise from the scattering of quasiparticles near point defects on the surface. The measurements reveal the surface electronic structure both below and above the chemical potential in both real and reciprocal spaces. Moreover, the interference maps uncover the scattering processes of NbP's exotic surface states. Through comparison between experimental data and theoretical calculations, we further discover that the scattering channels are largely restricted by the orbital and/or spin texture of the surface band. The visualization of the scattering processes can help design novel transport effects and electronics on the topological surface of a Weyl semimetal.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1511.02216,
title = {Atomic Scale Visualization of Quantum Interference on a Weyl Semimetal Surface by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy},
author = {Hao Zheng and Su-Yang Xu and Guang Bian and Cheng Guo and Guoqing Chang and Daniel S. Sanchez and Ilya Belopolski and Chi-Cheng Lee and Shin-Ming Huang and Xiao Zhang and Raman Sankar and Nasser Alidoust and Tay-Rong Chang and Fan Wu and Titus Neupert and Fangcheng Chou and Horng-Tay Jeng and Nan Yao and Arun Bansil and Shuang Jia and Hsin Lin and M. Zahid Hasan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.02216},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
Submitted October 2015