A Weyl Fermion semimetal with surface Fermi arcs in the transition metal monopnictide TaAs class

Shin-Ming Huang, Su-Yang Xu (), Ilya Belopolski, Chi-Cheng Lee, Guoqing Chang, BaoKai Wang, Nasser Alidoust, Guang Bian, Madhab Neupane, Chenglong Zhang, Shuang Jia, Arun Bansil, Hsin Lin () and M. Zahid Hasan ()
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Shin-Ming Huang: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore
Su-Yang Xu: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University
Ilya Belopolski: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University
Chi-Cheng Lee: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore
Guoqing Chang: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore
BaoKai Wang: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore
Nasser Alidoust: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University
Guang Bian: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University
Madhab Neupane: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University
Chenglong Zhang: ICQM, School of Physics, Peking University
Shuang Jia: ICQM, School of Physics, Peking University
Arun Bansil: Northeastern University
Hsin Lin: Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore
M. Zahid Hasan: Joseph Henry Laboratory, Princeton University

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Weyl fermions are massless chiral fermions that play an important role in quantum field theory but have never been observed as fundamental particles. A Weyl semimetal is an unusual crystal that hosts Weyl fermions as quasiparticle excitations and features Fermi arcs on its surface. Such a semimetal not only provides a condensed matter realization of the anomalies in quantum field theories but also demonstrates the topological classification beyond the gapped topological insulators. Here, we identify a topological Weyl semimetal state in the transition metal monopnictide materials class. Our first-principles calculations on TaAs reveal its bulk Weyl fermion cones and surface Fermi arcs. Our results show that in the TaAs-type materials the Weyl semimetal state does not depend on fine-tuning of chemical composition or magnetic order, which opens the door for the experimental realization of Weyl semimetals and Fermi arc surface states in real materials.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8373

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