Raman signatures of inversion symmetry breaking and structural phase transition in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe 2

Transition metal dichalcogenide MoTe is an important candidate for realizing the newly predicted type-II Weyl fermions, for which the breaking of the inversion symmetry is a prerequisite. Here we present direct spectroscopic evidence for the inversion symmetry breaking in the low-temperature phase o...

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Published inNature communications Vol. 7; p. 13552
Main Authors Zhang, Kenan, Bao, Changhua, Gu, Qiangqiang, Ren, Xiao, Zhang, Haoxiong, Deng, Ke, Wu, Yang, Li, Yuan, Feng, Ji, Zhou, Shuyun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 09.12.2016
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Summary:Transition metal dichalcogenide MoTe is an important candidate for realizing the newly predicted type-II Weyl fermions, for which the breaking of the inversion symmetry is a prerequisite. Here we present direct spectroscopic evidence for the inversion symmetry breaking in the low-temperature phase of MoTe by systematic Raman experiments and first-principles calculations. We identify five lattice vibrational modes that are Raman-active only in the low-temperature noncentrosymmetric structure. A hysteresis is also observed in the peak intensity of inversion symmetry-activated Raman modes, confirming a temperature-induced structural phase transition with a concomitant change in the inversion symmetry. Our results provide definitive evidence for the low-temperature noncentrosymmetric T phase from vibrational spectroscopy, and suggest MoTe as an ideal candidate for investigating the temperature-induced topological phase transition.
ISSN:2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms13552