Plethora of tunable Weyl fermions in kagome magnet Fe3Sn2 thin films

Interplay of magnetism and electronic band topology in unconventional magnets enables the creation and fine control of novel electronic phenomena. In this work, we use scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to study thin films of a prototypical kagome magnet Fe 3 Sn 2 . Our experiments revea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:npj quantum materials 2022-11, Vol.7 (1), p.1-7, Article 109
Main Authors: Ren, Zheng, Li, Hong, Sharma, Shrinkhala, Bhattarai, Dipak, Zhao, He, Rachmilowitz, Bryan, Bahrami, Faranak, Tafti, Fazel, Fang, Shiang, Ghimire, Madhav Prasad, Wang, Ziqiang, Zeljkovic, Ilija
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/119/544
639/766/119/2792
Banded structure
Condensed Matter Physics
Electron spin
Electron states
Fermions
Magnetism
Magnets
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Physics
Scanning tunneling microscopy
Structural Materials
Surfaces and Interfaces
Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Thin Films
Topological matter
Topology
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Summary:Interplay of magnetism and electronic band topology in unconventional magnets enables the creation and fine control of novel electronic phenomena. In this work, we use scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to study thin films of a prototypical kagome magnet Fe 3 Sn 2 . Our experiments reveal an unusually large number of densely-spaced spectroscopic features straddling the Fermi level. These are consistent with signatures of low-energy Weyl fermions and associated topological Fermi arc surface states predicted by theory. By measuring their response as a function of magnetic field, we discover a pronounced evolution in energy tied to the magnetization direction. Electron scattering and interference imaging further demonstrates the tunable nature of a subset of related electronic states. Our experiments provide a direct visualization of how in-situ spin reorientation drives changes in the electronic density of states of the Weyl fermion band structure. Combined with previous reports of massive Dirac fermions, flat bands, and electronic nematicity, our work establishes Fe 3 Sn 2 as an interesting platform that harbors an extraordinarily wide array of topological and correlated electron phenomena.
ISSN:2397-4648
2397-4648
DOI:10.1038/s41535-022-00521-y