Journal Article

Electronic evidence of temperature-induced Lifshitz transition and topological nature in ZrTe5

Weng, Hongming, Ding, Ying, Nie, Simin, Peng, Qinjun, He, Shaolong, Hu, Cheng, Liang, Aiji, Wang, Chenlu, Zhang, Yan, Gao, Qiang, Zhao, Lingxiao, Sun, Xuan, Liu, Jing, Zhang, Yuxiao, Yu, Li, Liu, Guodong, Li, Cong, Shen, Bing, Chen, Genfu, Zhao, Lin, Jia, Xiaowen, Zhou, X. J., Zhang, Shenjin, Chen, Chuangtian, Zhang, Fengfeng, Xu, Zuyan, Zhao, Wenjuan, Wang, Zhimin, Dai, Xi, Fang, Zhong, Yang, Feng, Huang, Jianwei

2017

Overview

The topological materials have attracted much attention for their unique electronic structure and peculiar physical properties. ZrTe 5 has host a long-standing puzzle on its anomalous transport properties manifested by its unusual resistivity peak and the reversal of the charge carrier type. It is also predicted that single-layer ZrTe 5 is a two-dimensional topological insulator and there is possibly a topological phase transition in bulk ZrTe 5 . Here we report high-resolution laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements on the electronic structure and its detailed temperature evolution of ZrTe 5 . Our results provide direct electronic evidence on the temperature-induced Lifshitz transition, which gives a natural understanding on underlying origin of the resistivity anomaly in ZrTe 5 . In addition, we observe one-dimensional-like electronic features from the edges of the cracked ZrTe 5 samples. Our observations indicate that ZrTe 5 is a weak topological insulator and it exhibits a tendency to become a strong topological insulator when the layer distance is reduced. To understand the anomalous electronic transport properties of ZrTe 5 remains an elusive puzzle. Here, Zhang et al . report direct electronic evidence to the origin of the resistivity anomaly and temperature induced Lifshitz transition in ZrTe 5 , indicating it being a weak topological insulator.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 140/125 / 639/301/119/2792 / 639/766/119/995 / Electrons / Humanities and Social Sciences / Lasers / multidisciplinary / Phase transitions / Physical properties / Physics / Science / Science (multidisciplinary)