Electronic Structure Studies of FeSi: A Chiral Topological System

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic structure of FeSi using ARPES and DFT, revealing the absence of topological Fermi arcs near the Fermi level and providing insights into its surface states and electron-phonon interactions.

Contribution

The paper provides the first comprehensive ARPES and DFT analysis of FeSi, clarifying its lack of topological Fermi arcs and detailing its surface states and electron-phonon interactions.

Findings

FeSi has no topological Fermi arcs near the Fermi level.

Spin-orbit coupling band splitting of 40 meV observed.

Anomalous temperature-dependent resistivity linked to electron-phonon interactions.

Abstract

Most recent observation of topological Fermi arcs on the surface of manyfold degenerate B20 systems, CoSi and RhSi, have attracted enormous research interests. Although an another isostructural system, FeSi, has been predicted to show bulk chiral fermions, it is yet to be clear theoretically and as well experimentally that whether FeSi possesses the topological surface Fermi arcs associated with the exotic chiral fermions in vicinity of the Fermi level. In this contribution, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and density functional theory (DFT), we present the low-energy electronic structure of FeSi. We further report the surface state calculations to provide insights into the surface band structure of FeSi near the Fermi level. Unlike in CoSi or RhSi, FeSi has no topological Fermi arcs near the Fermi level as confirmed both from ARPES and surface state calculations. Further, the ARPES data show spin-orbit coupling (SOC) band splitting of 40 meV, which is in good agreement with bulk band structure calculations. We noticed an anomalous temperature dependent resistivity in FeSi which can be understood through the electron-phonon interactions as we find a Debye energy of 80 meV from the ARPES data.