Atomically Sharp Internal Interface in a Chiral Weyl Semimetal Nanowire
Nitish Mathur, Fang Yuan, Guangming Cheng, Sahal Kaushik, Iñigo Robredo, Maia G. Vergniory, Jennifer Cano, Nan Yao, Song Jin, Leslie M. Schoop
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 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 P 2 1 3 (No. 198). Scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals that this internal interface is a (001) twin plane which connects two enantiomeric counterparts at an atomically sharp interface with inversion twinning. Ab initio calculations show localized internal Fermi arcs at the (001) twin plane that can be clearly distinguished from both external Fermi arcs and bulk states. These merohedrally twinned CoSi NWs provide an ideal platform to explore topological properties associated with internal interfaces in WSMs.