Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) topologicalWeyl semimetals (TWSs) represent a state of quantum matter with unusual electronic structures that resemble both a ‘3D graphene’ and a topological insulator. Their electronic structure displays pairs of Weyl points (through which the electronic bands disperse linearly along all three momentum directions) connected by topological surface states, forming a unique arc-like Fermi surface (FS). Each Weyl point is chiral and contains half the degrees of freedom of a Dirac point, and can be viewed as a magnetic monopole in momentum space. By performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the non-centrosymmetric compound TaAs, here we report its complete band structure, including the unique Fermi-arc FS and linear bulk band dispersion across the Weyl points, in agreement with the theoretical calculations1,2. This discovery not only confirms TaAs as a 3DTWS, but also provides an ideal platform for realizing exotic physical phenomena (for example, negative magnetoresistance, chiral magnetic effects and the quantum anomalous Hall effect) which may also lead to novel future applications.
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Change history
03 September 2015
In the version of this Letter originally published a description of arc-like Fermi surfaces in the abstract contained a typographical error. This error has been corrected in the online versions.
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Acknowledgements
Y.L.C. acknowledges the support from the EPSRC (UK) grant EP/K04074X/1 and a DARPA (US) MESO project (no. N66001-11-1-4105). The Advanced Light Source is operated by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science (contract DE-AC02-05CH11231).
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Y.L.C. conceived the experiments. L.X.Y. and Z.K.L. carried out ARPES measurements with the assistance of H.P., H.F.Y., T.Z., B.Z., Y.Z. and S.-K.M. D.P., Y.F.G. and M.R. synthesized and characterized bulk single crystals. B.Y. and Y.S. performed ab initio calculations. All authors contributed to the scientific planning and discussions.
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Yang, L., Liu, Z., Sun, Y. et al. Weyl semimetal phase in the non-centrosymmetric compound TaAs. Nature Phys 11, 728–732 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3425
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3425
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