Handedness-dependent quasiparticle interference in the two enantiomers of the topological chiral semimetal PdGa

Sessi P, Fan FR, Kuester F, Manna K, Schroter NBM, Ji JR, Stolz S, Krieger JA, Pei D, Kim TK, Dudin P, Cacho C, Widmer R, Borrmann H, Shi W, Chang K, Sun Y, Felser C, Parkin SSP (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 11

Article Number: 3507

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17261-x

Abstract

It has recently been proposed that combining chirality with topological band theory results in a totally new class of fermions. Understanding how these unconventional quasiparticles propagate and interact remains largely unexplored so far. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to visualize the electronic properties of the prototypical chiral topological semimetal PdGa. We reveal chiral quantum interference patterns of opposite spiraling directions for the two PdGa enantiomers, a direct manifestation of the change of sign of their Chern number. Additionally, we demonstrate that PdGa remains topologically non-trivial over a large energy range, experimentally detecting Fermi arcs in an energy window of more than 1.6 eV that is symmetrically centered around the Fermi level. These results are a consequence of the deep connection between chirality in real and reciprocal space in this class of materials, and, thereby, establish PdGa as an ideal topological chiral semimetal.

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik (MSP) / Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics DE Germany (DE) Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe (MPI CPfS) / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids DE Germany (DE) Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) CH Switzerland (CH) Diamond Light Source GB United Kingdom (GB) Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (Empa) / Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology CH Switzerland (CH) University of Oxford GB United Kingdom (GB) ShanghaiTech University / 上海科技大学 CN China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Sessi, P., Fan, F.-R., Kuester, F., Manna, K., Schroter, N.B.M., Ji, J.-R.,... Parkin, S.S.P. (2020). Handedness-dependent quasiparticle interference in the two enantiomers of the topological chiral semimetal PdGa. Nature Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17261-x

MLA:

Sessi, Paolo, et al. "Handedness-dependent quasiparticle interference in the two enantiomers of the topological chiral semimetal PdGa." Nature Communications 11.1 (2020).

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