Interference evidence for Rashba-type spin splitting on a semimetallic WT e2 surface

Qing Li, Jiaqiang Yan, Biao Yang, Yunyi Zang, Junjie Zhang, Ke He, Menghao Wu, Yanfei Zhao, David Mandrus, Jian Wang, Qikun Xue, Lifeng Chi, David J. Singh, Minghu Pan

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11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Semimetallic tungsten ditelluride displays an extremely large nonsaturating magnetoresistance, which is thought to arise from the perfect n-p charge compensation with low carrier densities in WTe2. We find a strong Rashba spin-orbit effect in density functional calculations due to the noncentrosymmetric structure. This lifts twofold spin degeneracy of the bands. A prominent umklapp interference pattern is observed by our scanning tunneling microscopic measurements at 4.2 K, which differs distinctly from the surface atomic structure demonstrated at 77 K. The energy dependence of umklapp interference shows a strong correspondence with densities of states integrated from ARPES measurement, manifesting a fact that the bands are spin-split on the opposite sides of Γ. Spectroscopic survey reveals the electron/hole asymmetry changes alternately with lateral locations along the b axis, providing a microscopic picture for double-carrier transport of semimetallic WTe2. The conclusion is further supported by our ARPES results and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations measurements.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115419
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume94
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 13 2016

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