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Title: Topological chiral crystals with helicoid-arc quantum states

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [7];  [4];  [1];  [8] more »;  [5];  [9] « less
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy (B7)
  2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials
  3. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  4. Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
  5. Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan). Institute of Physics
  6. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy (B7); Rigetti Quantum Computing, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. National Cheng Kung University, Tainan (Taiwan)
  8. Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China); University of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing (China). CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation
  9. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Advanced Spectroscopy (B7); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

The quantum behaviour of electrons in materials is the foundation of modern electronics and information technology, and quantum materials with topological electronic and optical properties are essential for realizing quantized electronic responses that can be used for next generation technology. Here we report the first observation of topological quantum properties of chiral crystals in the RhSi family. We find that this material class hosts a quantum phase of matter that exhibits nearly ideal topological surface properties originating from the crystals’ structural chirality. Electrons on the surface of these crystals show a highly unusual helicoid fermionic structure that spirals around two high-symmetry momenta, indicating electronic topological chirality. The existence of bulk multiply degenerate band fermions is guaranteed by the crystal symmetries; however, to determine the topological invariant or charge in these chiral crystals, it is essential to identify and study the helicoid topology of the arc states. The helicoid arcs that we observe on the surface characterize the topological charges of ±2, which arise from bulk higher-spin chiral fermions. These topological conductors exhibit giant Fermi arcs of maximum length (π), which are orders of magnitude larger than those found in known chiral Weyl fermion semimetals. Here, our results demonstrate an electronic topological state of matter on structurally chiral crystals featuring helicoid-arc quantum states. Such exotic multifold chiral fermion semimetal states could be used to detect a quantized photogalvanic optical response, the chiral magnetic effect and other optoelectronic phenomena predicted for this class of materials.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Key Research and Development Program of China; Chinese Academy of Science; Academia Sinica, Taiwan; Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Taiwan; National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan; National Center for Theoretical Sciences (NCTS), Taiwan
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; FG02-05ER46200; XDPB08-1; 291472
OSTI ID:
1632127
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 567, Issue 7749; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 183 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (34)

Optical response of the chiral topological semimetal RhSi journal October 2019
Strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals with higher-order Fermi arcs journal January 2020
Topological triply degenerate point with double Fermi arcs journal April 2019
Magnetic skyrmions in nanostructures of non-centrosymmetric materials journal December 2019
Higher-Order Topology, Monopole Nodal Lines, and the Origin of Large Fermi Arcs in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides X Te 2 ( X = Mo , W ) journal October 2019
Electronic Structure of B20 (FeSi-Type) Transition-Metal Monosilicides journal August 2019
Chiral fermion reversal in chiral crystals journal December 2019
Chiral topological semimetal with multifold band crossings and long Fermi arcs journal May 2019
Thermoelectric and galvanomagnetic properties of topologically non-trivial (Co-M)Si semimetals (M = Fe, Ni) at high temperatures journal December 2019
Chiral Magnetism and High-Temperature Skyrmions in B20-Ordered Co-Si journal February 2020
Signatures of a Charge Density Wave Phase and the Chiral Anomaly in the Fermionic Material Cobalt Monosilicide CoSi text January 2019
Photoinduced interfacial chiral modes in threefold topological semimetal journal October 2019
Observation of a topological nodal surface and its surface-state arcs in an artificial acoustic crystal journal November 2019
Quantum oscillations and electronic structure in the large–Chern number semimetal RhSn journal December 2019
Photoemission Spectroscopic Evidence for the Dirac Nodal Line in the Monoclinic Semimetal SrAs 3 journal February 2020
Strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals with higher-order Fermi arcs text January 2020
Growth and Strain Engineering of Trigonal Te for Topological Quantum Phases in Non-Symmorphic Chiral Crystals journal September 2019
Signatures of a Charge Density Wave Phase and the Chiral Anomaly in the Fermionic Material Cobalt Monosilicide CoSi journal November 2019
Absolute Structure from Scanning Electron Microscopy journal March 2020
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and its application to topological materials journal August 2019
Signatures of Sixfold Degenerate Exotic Fermions in a Superconducting Metal PdSb 2 journal February 2020
Quasiparticle interference evidence of the topological Fermi arc states in chiral fermionic semimetal CoSi journal December 2019
Linear optical conductivity of chiral multifold fermions text January 2019
Difference frequency generation in topological semimetals text January 2019
Strong and Fragile Topological Dirac Semimetals with Higher-Order Fermi Arcs text January 2019
Growth and Strain Engineering of Trigonal Te for Topological Quantum Phases in Non-Symmorphic Chiral Crystals preprint January 2019
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and its application to topological materials text January 2021
Micromagnetic description of twisted spin spirals in the B20 chiral magnet FeGe from first principles journal August 2021
Spin Hall effect in a spin-1 chiral semimetal journal July 2021
Identification of chirality of chiral multifold fermions in anti-crystals preprint January 2020
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Figures / Tables (12)


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