Experimental observation of hidden Berry curvature in inversion-symmetric bulk 2H-WSe2

TL;DR

This study uses ARPES to detect hidden Berry curvature in bulk 2H-WSe2, revealing that surface-sensitive measurements can uncover layer-specific topological properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates that circular dichroism in ARPES can effectively probe hidden Berry curvature in inversion-symmetric bulk transition metal dichalcogenides, supported by theoretical calculations.

Findings

CD signals for K and K' valleys are opposite in sign

CD is independent of spin state

Measured CD correlates with calculated Berry curvature

Abstract

We investigate the hidden Berry curvature in bulk 2H-WSe2 by utilizing the surface sensitivity of angle resolved photoemission (ARPES). The symmetry in the electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenides is used to uniquely determine the local orbital angular momentum (OAM) contribution to the circular dichroism (CD) in ARPES. The extracted CD signals for the K and K' valleys are almost identical but their signs, which should be determined by the valley index, are opposite. In addition, the sign is found to be the same for the two spin-split bands, indicating that it is independent of spin state. These observed CD behaviors are what are expected from Berry curvature of a monolayer of WSe2. In order to see if CD-ARPES is indeed representative of hidden Berry curvature within a layer, we use tight binding analysis as well as density functional calculation to calculate the Berry curvature and local OAM of a monolayer WSe2. We find that measured CD-ARPES is approximately proportional to the calculated Berry curvature as well as local OAM, further supporting our interpretation.