Bulk Fermi-surface of the Weyl type-II semi-metallic candidate MoTe2

TL;DR

This study investigates the bulk Fermi surface of MoTe2, a candidate Weyl type-II semi-metal, revealing discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements, and suggesting the absence of Weyl points due to band shifts.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental validation of the Fermi surface of MoTe2 and shows that band shifts reconcile theory with measurements, challenging the existence of Weyl points.

Findings

Fermi surface geometry differs from DFT predictions

Band shifts eliminate Weyl type-II points

Superconductivity depends on disorder

Abstract

The electronic structure of WTe$_2$ and orthorhombic $\gamma-$MoTe$_2$, are claimed to contain pairs of Weyl type-II points. A series of ARPES experiments claim a broad agreement with these predictions. We synthesized single-crystals of MoTe$_2$ through a Te flux method to validate these predictions through measurements of its bulk Fermi surface (FS) \emph{via} quantum oscillatory phenomena. We find that the superconducting transition temperature of $\gamma-$MoTe$_2$ depends on disorder as quantified by the ratio between the room- and low-temperature resistivities, suggesting the possibility of an unconventional superconducting pairing symmetry. Similarly to WTe$_2$, the magnetoresistivity of $\gamma-$MoTe$_2$ does not saturate at high magnetic fields and can easily surpass $10^{6}$ \%. Remarkably, the analysis of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) signal superimposed onto the magnetic torque, indicates that the geometry of its FS is markedly distinct from the calculated one. The dHvA signal also reveals that the FS is affected by the Zeeman-effect precluding the extraction of the Berry-phase. A direct comparison between the previous ARPES studies and density-functional-theory (DFT) calculations reveals a disagreement in the position of the valence bands relative to the Fermi level $\varepsilon_F$. Here, we show that a shift of the DFT valence bands relative to $\varepsilon_F$, in order to match the ARPES observations, and of the DFT electron bands to explain some of the observed dHvA frequencies, leads to a good agreement between the calculations and the angular dependence of the FS cross-sectional areas observed experimentally. However, this relative displacement between electron- and hole-bands eliminates their crossings and, therefore, the Weyl type-II points predicted for $\gamma-$MoTe$_2$.