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

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.94.115419

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

Correlated Electron Materials

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 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 language	English
Article number	115419
Journal	Physical Review B
Volume	94
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.115419
State	Published - Sep 13 2016

Funding

We acknowledge Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science & Technology, the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. Q.L. and L.F.C. acknowledge the financial support by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (2014CB932600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (91545127, 91227201, 21403149, and 21622306). J.W. acknowledge the financial support by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (2013CB934600 and 2012CB921300). M.H.P acknowledges the financial support by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11574095). D.G.M. acknowledges support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF4416). Work at the University of Missouri was supported by the Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences through the MAGICS center, Award No. DE-SC0014607. Work at ORNL was supported by the Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division.

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10.1103/PhysRevB.94.115419

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title = "Interference evidence for Rashba-type spin splitting on a semimetallic WT e2 surface",

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.",

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

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AU - Li, Qing

AU - Yan, Jiaqiang

AU - Yang, Biao

AU - Zang, Yunyi

AU - Zhang, Junjie

AU - He, Ke

AU - Wu, Menghao

AU - Zhao, Yanfei

AU - Mandrus, David

AU - Wang, Jian

AU - Xue, Qikun

AU - Chi, Lifeng

AU - Singh, David J.

AU - Pan, Minghu

PY - 2016/9/13

Y1 - 2016/9/13

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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

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