Stable Weyl points, trivial surface states, and particle-hole compensation in ${\mathrm{WP}}_2$

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.97.201103· OSTI ID:1581052

Razzoli, E.; Zwartsenberg, B.; Michiardi, M.; Boschini, F.; Day, R. P.; Elfimov, I. S.; Denlinger, J. D.; Süss, V.; Felser, C.; Damascelli, A.

A possible connection between extremely large magnetoresistance and the presence of Weyl points has garnered much attention in the study of topological semimetals. Exploration of these concepts in transition-metal diphosphides WP₂ has been complicated by conflicting experimental reports. Here we combine angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to disentangle surface and bulk contributions to the ARPES intensity, the superposition of which has plagued the determination of the band structure in WP₂. Our results show that while the hole- and electronlike Fermi surface sheets originating from surface states have different areas, the bulk-band structure of WP₂ is electron-hole compensated in agreement with DFT. Furthermore, the ARPES band structure is compatible with the presence of at least four temperature-independent Weyl points, confirming the topological nature of WP₂ and its stability against lattice distortions.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22), Scientific User Facilities Division (SC-22.3 )
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1581052
• Journal Information: Physical Review B, Vol. 97, Issue 20; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English