Hongming Weng

Discovery of a Three-dimensional Topological Dirac Semimetal, Na3Bi

A 3D Graphene? Discoveries of materials with exciting electronic properties have propelled condensed matter physics over the past decade. Two of the best-known examples, graphene and topological insulators, have something in common: a linear energy-momentum relationship—the Dirac dispersion—in their two-dimensional (2D) electronic states. Topological insulators also have a more mundane aspect of their electronic structure, characterized by a band gap. Another class of materials, topological Dirac semimetals, has been proposed that has a linear dispersion along all three momentum directions—a bulk Dirac cone; these materials are predicted to have intriguing electronic properties and to be related to other exotic states through quantum phase transitions. Liu et al. (p. 864, published online 16 January) detected such a state in the compound Na3Bi by using photoemission spectroscopy. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is used to detect bulk Dirac cones in a three-dimensional analog of graphene. Three-dimensional (3D) topological Dirac semimetals (TDSs) represent an unusual state of quantum matter that can be viewed as “3D graphene.” In contrast to 2D Dirac fermions in graphene or on the surface of 3D topological insulators, TDSs possess 3D Dirac fermions in the bulk. By investigating the electronic structure of Na3Bi with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we detected 3D Dirac fermions with linear dispersions along all momentum directions. Furthermore, we demonstrated the robustness of 3D Dirac fermions in Na3Bi against in situ surface doping. Our results establish Na3Bi as a model system for 3D TDSs, which can serve as an ideal platform for the systematic study of quantum phase transitions between rich topological quantum states.

Dirac semimetal and topological phase transitions in A(3)Bi (A = Na, K, Rb)

Three-dimensional (3D) Dirac point, where two Weyl points overlap in momentum space, is usually unstable and hard to realize. Here we show, based on the first-principles calculations and effective model analysis, that crystalline A(3)Bi (A = Na, K, Rb) are Dirac semimetals with bulk 3D Dirac points protected by crystal symmetry. They possess nontrivial Fermi arcs on the surfaces and can be driven into various topologically distinct phases by explicit breaking of symmetries. Giant diamagnetism, linear quantum magnetoresistance, and quantum spin Hall effect will be expected for such compounds.

Experimental discovery of Weyl semimetal TaAs

Weyl semimetals are a class of materials that can be regarded as three-dimensional analogs of graphene breaking time reversal or inversion symmetry. Electrons in a Weyl semimetal behave as Weyl fermions, which have many exotic properties, such as chiral anomaly and magnetic monopoles in the crystal momentum space. The surface state of a Weyl semimetal displays pairs of entangled Fermi arcs at two opposite surfaces. However, the existence of Weyl semimetals has not yet been proved experimentally. Here we report the experimental realization of a Weyl semimetal in TaAs by observing Fermi arcs formed by its surface states using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our first-principles calculations, matching remarkably well with the experimental results, further confirm that TaAs is a Weyl semimetal.

A stable three-dimensional topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2

Three-dimensional (3D) topological Dirac semimetals (TDSs) are a recently proposed state of quantum matter that have attracted increasing attention in physics and materials science. A 3D TDS is not only a bulk analogue of graphene; it also exhibits non-trivial topology in its electronic structure that shares similarities with topological insulators. Moreover, a TDS can potentially be driven into other exotic phases (such as Weyl semimetals, axion insulators and topological superconductors), making it a unique parent compound for the study of these states and the phase transitions between them. Here, by performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we directly observe a pair of 3D Dirac fermions in Cd3As2, proving that it is a model 3D TDS. Compared with other 3D TDSs, for example, β-cristobalite BiO2 (ref. 3) and Na3Bi (refs 4, 5), Cd3As2 is stable and has much higher Fermi velocities. Furthermore, by in situ doping we have been able to tune its Fermi energy, making it a flexible platform for exploring exotic physical phenomena.

Three-dimensional Dirac semimetal and quantum transport in Cd3As2

Based on the first-principles calculations, we recover the silent topological nature of Cd3As2, a well known semiconductor with high carrier mobility. We find that it is a symmetry-protected topological semimetal with a single pair of three-dimensional (3D) Dirac points in the bulk and nontrivial Fermi arcs on the surfaces. It can be driven into a topological insulator and a Weyl semimetal state by symmetry breaking, or into a quantum spin Hall insulator with a gap more than 100 meV by reducing dimensionality. We propose that the 3D Dirac cones in the bulk of Cd3As2 can support sizable linear quantum magnetoresistance even up to room temperature.

Observation of the Chiral-Anomaly-Induced Negative Magnetoresistance in 3D Weyl Semimetal TaAs

Xiaochun Huang, Lingxiao Zhao, Yujia Long, Peipei Wang, Dong Chen, Zhanhai Yang, Hui Liang, Mianqi Xue, Hongming Weng, Zhong Fang, Xi Dai, and Genfu Chen Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China (Received 14 May 2015; published 24 August 2015)

Observation of Weyl nodes in TaAs

Experiments show that TaAs is a three-dimensional topological Weyl semimetal. In 1929, H. Weyl proposed that the massless solution of the Dirac equation represents a pair of a new type of particles, the so-called Weyl fermions1. However, their existence in particle physics remains elusive after more than eight decades. Recently, significant advances in both topological insulators and topological semimetals have provided an alternative way to realize Weyl fermions in condensed matter, as an emergent phenomenon: when two non-degenerate bands in the three-dimensional momentum space cross in the vicinity of the Fermi energy (called Weyl nodes), the low-energy excitations behave exactly as Weyl fermions. Here we report the direct observation in TaAs of the long-sought-after Weyl nodes by performing bulk-sensitive soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements. The projected locations at the nodes on the (001) surface match well to the Fermi arcs, providing undisputable experimental evidence for the existence of Weyl fermionic quasiparticles in TaAs.

Topological Node-Line Semimetal and Dirac Semimetal State in Antiperovskite Cu3PdN.

Based on first-principles calculation and effective model analysis, we propose that the cubic antiperovskite material Cu3PdN can host a three-dimensional (3D) topological node-line semimetal state when spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is ignored, which is protected by the coexistence of time-reversal and inversion symmetry. There are three node-line circles in total due to the cubic symmetry. Drumheadlike surface flat bands are also derived. When SOC is included, each node line evolves into a pair of stable 3D Dirac points as protected by C4 crystal symmetry. This is remarkably distinguished from the Dirac semimetals known so far, such as Na3Bi and Cd3As2, both having only one pair of Dirac points. Once C4 symmetry is broken, the Dirac points are gapped and the system becomes a strong topological insulator with (1;111) Z2 indices.

Pressure-induced superconductivity in topological parent compound Bi2Te3

We report a successful observation of pressure-induced superconductivity in a topological compound Bi2Te3 with Tc of ∼3 K between 3 to 6 GPa. The combined high-pressure structure investigations with synchrotron radiation indicated that the superconductivity occurred at the ambient phase without crystal structure phase transition. The Hall effects measurements indicated the hole-type carrier in the pressure-induced superconducting Bi2Te3 single crystal. Consequently, the first-principles calculations based on the structural data obtained by the Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction patterns at high pressure showed that the electronic structure under pressure remained topologically nontrivial. The results suggested that topological superconductivity can be realized in Bi2Te3 due to the proximity effect between superconducting bulk states and Dirac-type surface states. We also discuss the possibility that the bulk state could be a topological superconductor.

Correlated Topological Insulators with Mixed Valence

We propose the local density approximation+Gutzwiller method incorporating a Greens function scheme to study the topological physics of correlated materials from the first principles. Applying this method to typical mixed valence materials SmB(6), we find its nontrivial Z(2) topology, indicating that SmB(6) is a strongly correlated topological insulator. The unique feature of this compound is that its surface states contain three Dirac cones in contrast to most known topological insulators.