Impurity screening and stability of Fermi arcs against Coulomb and magnetic scattering in a Weyl monopnictide
Sessi P, Sun Y, Bathon T, Glott F, Li Z, Chen H, Guo L, Chen X, Schmidt M, Felser C, Yan B, Bode M (2017)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2017
Journal
Book Volume: 95
Article Number: 035114
Journal Issue: 3
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.95.035114
Abstract
We present a quasiparticle interference study of clean and Mn surface-doped TaAs, a prototypical Weyl semimetal, to test the screening properties as well as the stability of Fermi arcs against Coulomb and magnetic scattering. Contrary to topological insulators, the impurities are effectively screened in Weyl semimetals. The adatoms significantly enhance the strength of the signal such that theoretical predictions on the potential impact of Fermi arcs can be unambiguously scrutinized. Our analysis reveals the existence of three extremely short, previously unknown scattering vectors. Comparison with theory traces them back to scattering events between large parallel segments of spin-split trivial states, strongly limiting their coherence. In sharp contrast to previous work [R. Batabyal, Sci. Adv. 2, e1600709 (2016)2375-254810.1126/sciadv.1600709], where similar but weaker subtle modulations were interpreted as evidence of quasiparticle interference originating from Femi arcs, we can safely exclude this being the case. Overall, our results indicate that intra- as well as inter-Fermi arc scattering are strongly suppressed and may explain why - in spite of their complex multiband structure - transport measurements show signatures of topological states in Weyl monopnictides.
Involved external institutions
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院
China (CN)
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Germany (DE)
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe (MPI CPfS) / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Germany (DE)
China (CN)
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Germany (DE)
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe (MPI CPfS) / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Germany (DE)
How to cite
APA:
Sessi, P., Sun, Y., Bathon, T., Glott, F., Li, Z., Chen, H.,... Bode, M. (2017). Impurity screening and stability of Fermi arcs against Coulomb and magnetic scattering in a Weyl monopnictide. Physical Review B, 95(3). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.035114
MLA:
Sessi, Paolo, et al. "Impurity screening and stability of Fermi arcs against Coulomb and magnetic scattering in a Weyl monopnictide." Physical Review B 95.3 (2017).
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