Quasiparticle interference and impurity resonances on WTe2

Abstract

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), we examine quasiparticle scattering and interference properties at the surface of WTe2. WTe2, layered transition metal dichalcogenide, is predicted to be a type-II Weyl semimetal. The Weyl fermion states in WTe(2)emerge as topologically protected touching points of electron and hole pockets, and Fermi arcs connecting them can be visible in the spectral function on the surface. To probe the properties of surface states, we have conducted low-temperature STM/STS (at 2.7 K) on the surfaces of WTe(2)single crystals. We visualize the surface states of WTe(2)with atomic scale resolution. Clear surface states emerging from the bulk electron pocket have been identified and their connection with the bulk electronic states shows good agreement with calculations. We show the interesting double resonance peaks in the local density of states appearing at localized impurities. The low-energy resonant peak occurs near the Weyl point above the Fermi energy and it may be mixed with the surface state of Weyl points, which makes it difficult to observe the topological nature of the Weyl semimetal WTe2