Atomically Sharp Internal Interface in a Chiral Weyl Semimetal Nanowire

TL;DR

This study reveals an atomically sharp internal twin boundary in CoSi nanowires that hosts localized Fermi arcs, offering a new platform to explore hidden topological states within Weyl semimetals.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates the existence of an atomically sharp internal interface in a chiral Weyl semimetal nanowire and characterizes its topological properties using microscopy and ab-initio calculations.

Findings

Internal twin boundary is atomically sharp and (001) oriented.

Localized Fermi arcs are present at the twin boundary.

Provides a new platform to study internal topological states.

Abstract

Internal interfaces in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) are predicted to host distinct topological features that are different from the commonly studied external interfaces (crystal-to-vacuum boundaries). However, the lack of atomically sharp and crystallographically oriented internal interfaces in WSMs makes it difficult to experimentally investigate hidden topological states buried inside the material. Here, we study a unique internal interface known as merohedral twin boundary in chemically synthesized single-crystal nanowires (NWs) of CoSi, a chiral WSM of space group P213 (No. 198). High resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals that this internal interface is (001) twin plane and connects two enantiomeric counterparts at an atomically sharp interface with inversion twinning. Ab-initio calculations show localized internal Fermi arcs at the (001) twin boundary that can be clearly distinguished from both external Fermi arcs and bulk states. These merohedrally twinned CoSi NWs provide an ideal material system to probe unexplored topological properties associated with internal interfaces in WSMs.