Quantum oscillations in Weyl semimetals - a surface theory approach

Abstract

We develop an effective surface theory for the surface states of a Weyl semimetal. This theory includes the peculiar Fermi arc states on the surface as well as leakage of the states from the surface to the bulk. Subjecting the model to a magnetic field perpendicular to the surface results in quantum oscillations. The oscillations are different from the usual ones since they do not involve a closed Fermi surface cross section. It has been shown previously that the Quantum oscillations can be understood semiclassically as resulting from motion of electrons on the surface Fermi arcs as well as tunneling through chiral Landau levels associated with the bulk. In this work we develop an effective surface theory and use it to analyze the quantum oscillation in the semiclassical regime and beyond. Specifically, we show that when a pair of Weyl points are close to each other the surface quantum oscillations acquire a phase offset which originates from the bulk. While the surface states are responsible for a large part of the electron motion, tunneling through the bulk is necessary for completing the orbit. This tunneling makes use of the bulk, zero energy, chiral Landau level in each Weyl node. When the nodes are close in momentum space their chiral levels overlap and a gap at zero energy is formed. This gap causes the phase offset in the surface quantum oscillations.

10 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Weyl semimetal phase in non-centrosymmetric transition metal monophosphides
• Phase transition between the quantum spin Hall and insulator phases in 3D: emergence of a topological gapless phase
• Topological response in Weyl semimetals and the chiral anomaly
• Spectroscopic evidence for type II Weyl semimetal state in MoTe2
• A new magnetic field dependence of Landau levels on a graphene like structure
• Magnetic orders and topological phases from f-d exchange in pyrochlore iridates
• Anomalous Phase Shift of Quantum Oscillations in 3D Topological Semimetals
• Minimal models for topological Weyl semimetals
• Chiral magnetic effect in two-band lattice model of Weyl semimetal

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The semiclassical theory of anomalous transport in type-II topological Weyl semimetals
• Emergence of Gapped Bulk and Metallic Side Walls in the Zeroth Landau level in Dirac and Weyl semimetals
• Fermi arc mediated entropy transport in topological semimetals
• Greens function of semi-infinite Weyl semimetals
• Anisotropic three-dimensional quantum Hall effect and magnetotransport in mesoscopic Weyl semimetals
• Quantum Hall effect induced by chiral Landau levels in topological semimetal films
• Surface Luttinger arcs in Weyl semimetals
• Weyl orbits without an external magnetic field
• Anomalous Surface Conductivity of Weyl Semimetals
• Tunnelling theory of Weyl semimetals in proximity to a metallic band
• Superconductor Vortex Spectrum Including Fermi Arc States in Time-Reversal Symmetric Weyl Semimetals
• Surface spectroscopy and surface-bulk hybridization of Weyl semimetals