Detection of Hole Pockets in the Candidate Type-II Weyl Semimetal MoTe_{2} from Shubnikov-de Haas Quantum Oscillations.

The bulk electronic structure of T_{d}-MoTe_{2} features large hole Fermi pockets at the Brillouin zone center (Γ) and two electron Fermi surfaces along the Γ-X direction. However, the large hole pockets, whose existence has important implications for the Weyl physics of T_{d}-MoTe_{2}, has never been conclusively detected in quantum oscillations. This raises doubt about the realizability of Majorana states in T_{d}-MoTe_{2}, because these exotic states rely on the existence of Weyl points, which originated from the same band structure predicted by density functional theory (DFT). Here, we report an unambiguous detection of these elusive hole pockets via Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) quantum oscillations. At ambient pressure, the quantum oscillation frequencies for these pockets are 988 and 1513 T, when the magnetic field is applied along the c axis. The quasiparticle effective masses m^{*} associated with these frequencies are 1.50 and 2.77 m_{e}, respectively, indicating the importance of Coulomb interactions in this system. We further measure the SdH oscillations under pressure. At 13 kbar, we detected a peak at 1798 T with m^{*}=2.86m_{e}. Relative to the oscillation data at a lower pressure, the amplitude of this peak experienced an enhancement, which can be attributed to the reduced curvature of the hole pockets under pressure. Combining our experimental data with DFT+U calculations, where U is the Hubbard parameter, our results shed light on why these important hole pockets have not been detected until now.

[1]  Hai-Zhou Lu,et al.  Angular dependence of the upper critical field in the high-pressure 1T′ phase of MoTe2 , 2019, Physical Review Materials.

[2]  Sangyun Lee,et al.  Origin of extremely large magnetoresistance in the candidate type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2−x , 2018, Scientific Reports.

[3]  P. Bugnon,et al.  Evidence of a Coulomb-Interaction-Induced Lifshitz Transition and Robust Hybrid Weyl Semimetal in T_{d}-MoTe_{2}. , 2018, Physical review letters.

[4]  E. Manousakis,et al.  Importance of electron correlations in understanding photoelectron spectroscopy and Weyl character of MoTe2 , 2018, Physical Review B.

[5]  Z. Sheng,et al.  Planar Hall effect in the type-II Weyl semimetal Td−MoTe2 , 2018, Physical Review B.

[6]  P. Bugnon,et al.  Spin-Resolved Electronic Response to the Phase Transition in MoTe_{2}. , 2018, Physical review letters.

[7]  Xuan Luo,et al.  Origin of magnetoresistance suppression in thin γ−MoTe2 , 2018, Physical Review B.

[8]  Linda Hung,et al.  Mechanical control of crystal symmetry and superconductivity in Weyl semimetal MoTe2 , 2018, Physical Review Materials.

[9]  S. Ishiwata,et al.  Anticorrelation between polar lattice instability and superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal candidate MoTe 2 , 2017, 1703.02696.

[10]  P. Bugnon,et al.  Persistence of a surface state arc in the topologically trivial phase of MoTe2 , 2017 .

[11]  Y. Wang,et al.  Disruption of the Accidental Dirac Semimetal State in ZrTe_{5} under Hydrostatic Pressure. , 2017, Physical review letters.

[12]  Y. Sun,et al.  Extremely large magnetoresistance in the type-II Weyl semimetal Mo Te 2 , 2016, 1706.03356.

[13]  Claudia Felser,et al.  Topological Materials: Weyl Semimetals , 2016, 1611.04182.

[14]  M. Franz,et al.  Josephson current signatures of Majorana flat bands on the surface of time-reversal-invariant Weyl and Dirac semimetals , 2016, 1610.08553.

[15]  L. Balicas,et al.  Hall effect within the colossal magnetoresistive semimetallic state of MoTe 2 , 2016, 1607.03330.

[16]  L. Balicas,et al.  Bulk Fermi surface of the Weyl type-II semimetallic candidate NbIrTe 4 , 2016, 1605.09065.

[17]  Timur K. Kim,et al.  Fermi Arcs and Their Topological Character in the Candidate Type-II Weyl Semimetal MoTe 2 , 2016, 1604.08228.

[18]  P. Canfield,et al.  Observation of Fermi arcs in the type-II Weyl semimetal candidate WTe 2 , 2016, 1604.05176.

[19]  C. Felser,et al.  Signature of type-II Weyl semimetal phase in MoTe2 , 2016, Nature Communications.

[20]  W. Duan,et al.  Experimental observation of topological Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2 , 2016, Nature Physics.

[21]  J Zhang,et al.  Td-MoTe2: A possible topological superconductor , 2016, 1602.01549.

[22]  M. Franz,et al.  Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana flat bands at the surface of a Weyl semimetal , 2016, 1601.01727.

[23]  M. Troyer,et al.  MoTe_{2}: A Type-II Weyl Topological Metal. , 2015, Physical review letters.

[24]  C. Felser,et al.  Superconductivity in Weyl semimetal candidate MoTe2 , 2015, Nature Communications.

[25]  C. Felser,et al.  Prediction of Weyl semimetal in orthorhombicMoTe2 , 2015, Physical Review B.

[26]  M. Troyer,et al.  Type-II Weyl semimetals , 2015, Nature.

[27]  Suyeon Cho,et al.  Bandgap opening in few-layered monoclinic MoTe2 , 2015, Nature Physics.

[28]  S. Y. Li,et al.  Drastic Pressure Effect on the Extremely Large Magnetoresistance in WTe2: Quantum Oscillation Study. , 2014, Physical review letters.

[29]  P. M. C. Rourke,et al.  Numerical extraction of de Haas-van Alphen frequencies from calculated band energies , 2008, Comput. Phys. Commun..

[30]  K. Schwarz,et al.  Solid state calculations using WIEN2k , 2003 .

[31]  Burke,et al.  Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[32]  New Rochelle,et al.  Magnetic Oscillations in Metals , 1984 .