Topological surface states and Fermi arcs of the noncentrosymmetric Weyl semimetals TaAs, TaP, NbAs, and NbP

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio calculations to analyze the surface states and Fermi arcs of noncentrosymmetric Weyl semimetals TaAs, TaP, NbAs, and NbP, revealing their spin textures and how surface termination affects their Fermi surface shapes.

Contribution

It provides detailed theoretical insights into the surface band structures, Fermi arcs, and spin textures of these Weyl semimetals, including how spin-orbit coupling influences their topological features.

Findings

Fermi arcs with spin-momentum locking are revealed.

Surface termination affects Fermi surface shape but not topology.

Spin-orbit coupling increases lead to evolution from spin-degenerate to spin-split Fermi arcs.

Abstract

Very recently the topological Weyl semimetal (WSM) state was predicted in the noncentrosymmetric compounds TaAs, TaP, NbAs, and NbP and soon led to photoemission and transport experiments to verify the presumed topological properties such as Fermi arcs (unclosed Fermi surfaces) and the chiral anomaly. In this work, we have performed fully \textit{ab initio} calculations of the surface band structures of these four WSM materials and revealed the Fermi arcs with spin-momentum-locked spin texture. On the (001) polar surface, the shape of the Fermi surface depends sensitively on the surface terminations (cations or anions), although they exhibit the same topology with arcs. The anion (P or As) terminated surfaces are found to fit recent photoemission measurements well. Such surface potential dependence indicates that the shape of the Fermi surface can be manipulated by depositing guest species (such as K atoms), as we demonstrate. On the polar surface of a WSM without inversion symmetry, Rashba-type spin polarization naturally exists in the surface states and leads to strong spin texture. By tracing the spin polarization of the Fermi surface, we can also distinguish Fermi arcs from trivial Fermi circles. The four compounds NbP, NbAs, TaP, and TaAs present an increasing amplitude of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the band structure. By comparing their surface states, we reveal the evolution of topological Fermi arcs from the spin-degenerate Fermi circle to spin-split arcs when the SOC increases from zero to a finite value. Our work will help us understand the complicated surface states of WSMs and allow us to manipulate them, especially for future spin-revolved photoemission and transport experiments.