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Arc-tunable Weyl Fermion metallic state in Mo$_x$W$_{1-x}$Te$_2$

Authors :
Chang, Tay-Rong
Xu, Su-Yang
Chang, Guoqing
Lee, Chi-Cheng
Huang, Shin-Ming
Wang, BaoKai
Bian, Guang
Zheng, Hao
Sanchez, Daniel S.
Belopolski, Ilya
Alidoust, Nasser
Neupane, Madhab
Bansil, Arun
Jeng, Horng-Tay
Lin, Hsin
Hasan, M. Zahid
Source :
Nat. Commun. 7:10639 (2016)
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

Weyl semimetals may open a new era in condensed matter physics because they provide the first example of Weyl fermions, realize a new topological classification even though the system is gapless, exhibit Fermi arc surface states and demonstrate the chiral anomaly and other exotic quantum phenomena. So far, the only known Weyl semimetals are the TaAs class of materials. Here, we propose the existence of a tunable Weyl metallic state in Mo$_x$W$_{1-x}$Te$_2$ via our first-principles calculations. We demonstrate that a 2% Mo doping is sufficient to stabilize the Weyl metal state not only at low temperatures but also at room temperatures. We show that, within a moderate doping regime, the momentum space distance between the Weyl nodes and hence the length of the Fermi arcs can be continuously tuned from zero to ~ 3% of the Brillouin zone size via changing Mo concentration, thus increasing the topological strength of the system. Our results provide an experimentally feasible route to realizing Weyl physics in the layered compound Mo$_x$W$_{1-x}$Te$_2$, where non-saturating magneto-resistance and pressure driven superconductivity have been observed.

Details

Database :
arXiv
Journal :
Nat. Commun. 7:10639 (2016)
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.1508.06723
Document Type :
Working Paper
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10639