Exotic electronic states are realized in novel quantum materials. This field is revolutionized by the topological classification of materials. Such compounds necessarily host unique states on their boundaries. Scanning tunneling microscopy studies of these surface states have provided a wealth of spectroscopic characterization, with the successful cooperation of ab initio calculations. The method of quasiparticle interference imaging proves to be particularly useful for probing the dispersion relation of the surface bands. Herein, how a variety of additional fundamental electronic properties can be probed via this method is reviewed. It is demonstrated how quasiparticle interference measurements entail mesoscopic size quantization and the electronic phase coherence in semiconducting nanowires; helical spin protection and energy-momentum fluctuations in a topological insulator; and the structure of the Bloch wave function and the relative insusceptibility of topological electronic states to surface potential in a topological Weyl semimetal.
Scanning tunneling microscopy visualizations of quasiparticle interference (QPI) enable powerful insights into the k-space properties of superconducting, topological, Rashba and other exotic electronic phases, but their reliance on impurities acting as scattering centers is rarely scrutinized. Here we investigate QPI at the vacuum-cleaved (001) surface of the Dirac semimetal ZrSiS. We find that interference patterns around impurities located on the Zr and S lattice sites appear very different, and can be ascribed to selective scattering of different sub-sets of the predominantly Zr 4d-derived …
We theoretically investigate quasiparticle interference in superconducting topological insulators with the nematic order parameter. This order parameter spontaneously breaks the rotational symmetry of the crystal. Such rotational symmetry breaking is visible in the quasiparticle interference picture both in coordinate and momentum spaces. For a small bias voltages quasiparticle interference incommensurate with the crystal symmetry and shows nematic behavior. If the bias voltage is comparable with the value of the order parameter interference picture is similar to the interference picture of th…
Weyl semimetals are a new member of the topological materials family, featuring a pair of singly degenerate Weyl cones with linear dispersion around the nodes in the bulk, and Fermi arcs on the surface. Depending on whether the system conserves or violates Lorentz symmetry, Weyl semimetals can be categorized into two classes. Photoemission spectroscopy measurements have confirmed the TaAs-class and WTe2-class of Weyl semimetals as type-I and type-II respectively. This review article aims to elucidate and elaborate on the basic concepts of Weyl semimetals and quasiparticle interference experime…
The quasiparticle interference (QPI) technique is a powerful tool that allows to uncover the structure and properties of electronic structure of a material combined with scattering properties of defects at surfaces. Recently this technique has been pivotal in proving the unique properties of the surface state of topological insulators which manifests itself in the absence of backscattering. In this work we derive a Green function based formalism for the ab initio computation of Fourier-transformed QPI images. We show the efficiency of our new implementation at the examples of QPI that forms ar…
Quasiparticle interference induced by cobalt adatoms on the surface of the topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. It is found that Co atoms are selectively adsorbed on top of Se sites and act as strong scatterers at the surface, generating anisotropic standing waves. A long-range magnetic order is found to be absent, and the surface state Dirac cone remains gapless. The anisotropy of the standing wave is ascribed to the heavily warped iso-energy contour of unoccupied st…
We study impurity scattering in the normal and d-wave superconducting states of line nodal semimetals and show that, due to additional scattering phase space available for impurities on the surface, the quasiparticle interference pattern acquires an extended character instead of a discrete collection of delta function peaks. Moreover, using the T-matrix formalism, we demonstrate that the conventional behavior of a scalar impurity in a d-wave superconductor breaks down on the surface of a line nodal semimetal in the quasi flat band limit.
Quasiparticle interference (QPI) of the electronic states has been widely applied in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to analyze the electronic band structure of materials. Single-defect induced QPI reveals defect-dependent interaction between a single atomic defect and electronic states, which deserves special attention. Due to the weak signal of single-defect-induced QPI, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is relatively low in a standard two-dimensional QPI measurement. In this paper, we introduce a projective quasiparticle interference (PQPI) method, in which a one-dimensional measurement i…
Weyl semimetals host topologically protected surface states, with arced Fermi surface contours that are predicted to propagate through the bulk when their momentum matches that of the surface projections of the bulk's Weyl nodes. We use spectroscopic mapping with a scanning tunneling microscope to visualize quasi-particle scattering and interference at the surface of the Weyl semimetal TaAs. Our measurements reveal 10 different scattering wave vectors, which can be understood and precisely reproduced with a theory that takes into account the shape, spin texture, and momentum-dependent propagat…
It is a theoretical conjecture that 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state charge e/4 excitations may obey exotic non-Abelian statistics. In edge state interference these purported non-Abelian quasiparticles should display period e/4 Aharonov-Bohm oscillations if the interfering quasiparticle encircles an even number of localized e/4 charges, but suppression of oscillations if an odd number is encircled. To test this hypothesis, here we perform swept area interference measurements at 5/2. We observe an alternating pattern of e/4 and e/2 period oscillations in resistance. This aperiodic alternation …
We have studied the BiCu$_2$/Cu(111) surface alloy using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. We observed standing waves caused by scattering off defects and step edges. Different from previous studies on similar Rashba-type surfaces, we identified multiple scattering vectors that originate from various intraband as well as interband scattering processes. A detailed energy-dependent analysis of the standing-wave patterns enables a quantitative determination of band dispersions, including the Rashba splitting. The results are in good agreement with ARPES data and demo…
Chiral fermions in solid state feature "Fermi arc" states, connecting the surface projections of the bulk chiral nodes. The surface Fermi arc is a signature of nontrivial bulk topology. Unconventional chiral fermions with an extensive Fermi arc traversing the whole Brillouin zone have been theoretically proposed in CoSi. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy / spectroscopy to investigate quasiparticle interference at various terminations of a CoSi single crystal. The observed surface states exhibit chiral fermion-originated characteristics. These reside on (001) and (011) but not (111) su…
The quasiparticle interference of the spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy has been investigated for the surface states of the large gap topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$ through the T-matrix formalism. Both the scalar potential scattering and the spin-orbit scattering on the warped hexagonal isoenergy contour are considered. While backscatterings are forbidden by time-reversal symmetry, other scatterings are allowed and exhibit strong dependence on the spin configurations of the eigenfunctions at k points over the isoenergy contour. The characteristic scattering wavevectors fo…
We present a calculation of the modulation in the Local Density Of electronic States (LDOS) caused by an impurity in graphene in the presence of external magnetic field. We focus on the spatial Fourier Transform (FT) of this modulation around the impurity. The FT due to the low energy quasiparticles are found to be nonzero over the reciprocal lattice corresponding to graphene. At these lattice spots the FT exhibits well-defined features at wavevectors that are multiples of the inverse cyclotron orbit diameter (see Figure 2) and is cut off at the wavevector corresponding to the energy of observ…
Topological insulators have surface states with unique spin-orbit coupling. With impurities on the surface, the quasiparticle interference pattern is an effective way to reveal the topological nature of the surface states, which can be probed by the scanning tunneling microscopy. In this paper, we present a general analytic formulation of the local density of states using the stationary phase approximation. The power laws of Friedel oscillations are discussed for a constant energy contour with a generic shape. In particular, we predict unique signature of magnetic impurities in comparison with…
A standing problem in low dimensional electron systems is the nature of the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state: its elementary excitations are a focus for both elucidating the state's properties and as candidates in methods to perform topological quantum computation. Interferometric devices may be employed to manipulate and measure quantum Hall edge excitations. Here we use a small area edge state interferometer designed to observe quasiparticle interference effects. Oscillations consistent in detail with the Aharanov-Bohm effect are observed for integer and fractional quantum Hall states (fill…
Weyl semimetals constitute a newly discovered class of three-dimensional topological materials with linear touchings of valence and conduction bands in the bulk. The most striking property of topological origin in these materials, so far unequivocally observed only in photoemission experiments, is the presence of open constant-energy contours at the boundary --- the so-called Fermi arcs. In this work, we establish the universal characteristics of Fermi-arc contributions to surface quasiparticle interference. Using a general phenomenological model, we determine the defining interference pattern…
We calculate the form of quasiparticle interference patterns in bilayer graphene within a low-energy description, taking into account perturbatively the trigonal warping terms. We introduce four different types of impurities localized on the A and B sublattices of the first and the second layer, and we obtain closed-form analytical expressions both in real and Fourier spaces for the oscillatory corrections to the local density of states generated by the impurities. Finally, we compare our findings with recent experimental and semi-analytical T-matrix results from arXiv:2104.10620 and we show t…
We use the exact analytical technique introduced in Phys. Rev. B 101, 115405 to recover the surface Green's functions and the corresponding Fermi-arc surface states for various lattice models of Weyl semimetals. For these models we use the T-matrix formalism to calculate the quasiparticle interference patterns generated in the presence of impurity scattering. In particular, we consider the models introduced in Phys. Rev. B 93, 041109(R) (A) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 076801 (B), and we find that, as opposed to observations previously obtained via joint density of states and spin-dependent scatt…
We use an exact analytical technique [Phys. Rev. B \textbf{101}, 115405 (2020), Phys. Rev. B \textbf{102}, 165117 (2020)] to recover the surface Green's functions for Bernal (ABA) and rhombohedral (ABC) graphite. For rhombohedral graphite we recover the predicted surface flat bands. For Bernal graphite we find that the surface state spectral function is similar to the bilayer one, but the trigonal warping effects are enhanced, and the surface quasiparticles have a much shorter lifetime. We subsequently use the T-matrix formalism to study the quasiparticle interference patterns generated on the…
Constant energy contour (CEC) of the surface bands in topological insulators varies not only with materials but also at different energies. The quasiparticle interference caused by scattering-off from defects on the surface of topological insulators is an effective way to reveal the topologies of the CEC and can be probed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Using stationary phase approach, a general analytic formulation of the local density of states as well as the power laws of the Friedel oscillation are present, based only on the time-reversal symmetry and the local geometry around the …
Electrons on the surface of a strong topological insulator, such as Bi2Te3 or Bi1-xSnx, form a topologically protected helical liquid whose excitation spectrum contains an odd number of massless Dirac fermions. A theoretical survey and classification is given of the universal features, observable by the ordinary and spin-polarized scanning tunneling spectroscopy, in the interference patterns resulting from the quasiparticle scattering by magnetic and non-magnetic impurities in such a helical liquid. Our results confirm the absence of backscattering from non-magnetic impurities observed in rece…
Pseudospin, an additional degree of freedom related to the honeycomb structure of graphene, is responsible of many of the outstanding electronic properties found in this material. This article provides a clear understanding of how such pseudospin impacts the quasiparticle interferences of monolayer (ML) and bilayer (BL) graphene measured by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. We have used this technique to map, with very high energy and space resolution, the spatial modulations of the local density of states of ML and BL graphene epitaxialy grown on SiC(0001), in pr…
We consider a device which allows to create and probe single Majorana fermions, in the form of Bogoliubov quasiparticles. It is composed of two counter-propagating edge channels, each put in proximity with a superconducting region where Andreev reflection operates, and which thus converts electrons into Bogoliubov quasiparticles. The edge channels then meet at a quantum point contact where collisions can be achieved. A voltage biased version of the setup was studied in Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 070604 (2014) and showed non-local interference phenomena and signatures of Bogoliubov quasiparticle col…
Spin- and angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is a basic experimental tool for unveiling spin polarization of electron eigenstates in crystals. We prove, by using spin-orbit coupled graphene as a model, that photoconversion of a quasiparticle inside a crystal into a photoelectron can be accompanied with a dramatic change in its spin polarization, up to a total spin flip. This phenomenon is typical of quasiparticles residing away from the Brillouin zone center and described by higher rank spinors, and results in exotic patterns in the angular distribution of photoelectrons.
Topological crystalline insulators represent a novel topological phase of matter in which the surface states are protected by discrete point group-symmetries of the underlying lattice. Rock-salt lead-tin-selenide alloy is one possible realization of this phase which undergoes a topological phase transition upon changing the lead content. We used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to probe the surface states on (001) Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Se in the topologically non-trivial (x=0.23) and topologically trivial (x=0) phases. We observed quasiparti…
A physical system exposes to us in a real space, while its description often refers to its reciprocal momentum space. A connection between them can be established by exploring patterns of quasiparticles interference (QPI), which is experimentally accessible by Fourier transformation of the scanning tunneling spectroscopy (FT-STS). We here investigate how local and global features of QPI patterns are related to the geometry and topology of electronic structure in the considered physical system. A reduced response function (RRF) approach is developed that can analyze QPI patterns with clear phys…
Impurities act as in situ probes of nontrivial electronic structure, causing real-space modulations in the density of states detected by scanning tunneling spectroscopy on the sample surface. We show that distinctive topological features of Weyl semimetals can be revealed in the Fourier transform of this map, interpreted in terms of quasiparticle interference (QPI). We develop an exact Green's function formalism and apply it to generalized models of Weyl semimetals with an explicit surface. The type of perturbation lifting the Dirac node degeneracy to produce the three-dimensional bulk Weyl ph…
We present angle resolved photoemission experiments and scanning tunneling spectroscopy results on the doped topological insulator Cu0.2Bi2Te3. Quasi-particle interference (QPI) measurements, based on high resolution conductance maps of the local density of states show that there are three distinct energy windows for quasi-particle scattering. Using a model Hamiltonian for this system two new scattering channels are identified: the first between the surface states and the conduction band and the second between conduction band states. We also observe that the real space density modulation has a…
We combine quasiparticle interference simulation (theory) and atomic resolution scanning tunneling spectro-microscopy (experiment) to visualize the interference patterns on a type-II Weyl semimetal Mo$_{x}$W$_{1-x}$Te$_2$ for the first time. Our simulation based on first-principles band topology theoretically reveals the surface electron scattering behavior. We identify the topological Fermi arc states and reveal the scattering properties of the surface states in Mo$_{0.66}$W$_{0.34}$Te$_2$. In addition, our result reveals an experimental signature of the topology via the interconnectivity of …
The energy-momentum relationship of electrons on the surface of an ideal "Hydrogen-Atom" Topological Insulator forms a cone - a Dirac cone, which, when warped and distorted (no longer described by the Dirac equation), can lead to unusual phenomena such as enhanced electronic interference around defects (observed in STM) and a magnetically ordered broken symmetry surface with lost topological protection. A detailed spin-texture and hexagonal warping maps on Bi2Te3 are presented in this context as a Viewpoint on L.Fu, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 266801 (2009).
We study how nonsymmorphic symmetries that commute with lattice translations are reflected in the quasiparticle interference (QPI) maps measured by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). QPI maps, which result from scattering of Bloch states off impurities, record the interference of incoming and scattered waves as a function of energy and tip's position. Although both the impurity and the tip generically break spatial symmetries, we find that the QPI maps provide universal information on these symmetries. The symmetries impose constraints on the relation between various momentum components of t…
Singularities of the joint density of states (JDOS) and Fourier-transformed local density of states (FT-LDOS) correspond to the hot spots in quasiparticle interference patterns. In this paper the singularity of JDOS is analyzed exactly, with three types of singularities being classified. In particular, the third type of singularities are found exactly to be envelopes of the contours of constant energy. Remarkably, we show that JDOS and FT-LDOS have the same singular points. Approaching to the singular points, both quantities diverge complementarily in an inverse-square-root manner if the joint…
We report experiments in a large, 2.5 micron diameter Fabry-Perot quantum Hall interferometer with two tunneling constrictions. Interference fringes are observed as conductance oscillations as a function of applied magnetic field (the Aharonov-Bohm flux through the electron island) or a global backgate voltage (electronic charge in the island). Depletion is such that in the fractional quantum Hall regime, filling 1/3 current-carrying chiral edge channels pass through constrictions when the island filling is 2/5. The interferometer device is calibrated with fermionic electrons in the integer qu…
Weyl semimetals are gapless three-dimensional topological materials where two bands touch at an even number of points in the bulk Brillouin zone. These semimetals exhibit topologically protected surface Fermi arcs, which pairwise connect the projected bulk band touchings in the surface Brillouin zone. Here, we analyze the quasiparticle interference patterns of the Weyl phase when time-reversal symmetry is explicitly broken. We use a multi-band $d$-electron Hubbard Hamiltonian on a pyrochlore lattice, relevant for the pyrochlore iridate R$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ (where R is a rare earth). Using exact di…
Exploiting inversion symmetry breaking (ISB) in systems with strong spin-orbit coupling promises control of spin through electric fields - crucial to achieve miniaturization in spintronic devices. Delivering on this promise requires a two-dimensional electron gas with a spin precession length shorter than the spin coherence length and a large spin splitting so that spin manipulation can be achieved over length scales of nanometers. Recently, the transition metal oxide terminations of delafossite oxides were found to exhibit a large Rashba spin splitting dominated by ISB. In this limit, the Fer…
Design of a Fabry-Perot (double point contact) interferometer to measure fractional quantum Hall effect quasiparticle charge properties, and in particular the 5/2 excitations, poses an important trade-off: the device size should be minimized to allow two path interference, since the coherence length of the quasiparticles in the correlated states are expected be limited, yet a small device promotes the dominance of Coulomb charging effects which would overwhelm the Aharonov-Bohm interference effect. In this study a series of small but different size interferometers from the same high density he…
Recently, the topological classification of electronic states has been extended to a new class of matter known as topological crystalline insulators. Similar to topological insulators, topological crystalline insulators also have spin-momentum locked surface states; but they only exist on specific crystal planes that are protected by crystal reflection symmetry. Here, we report an ultra-low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study on topological crystalline insulator SnTe nanoplates grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We observed quasiparticle interference patterns on the …
Condensed matter systems provide a rich setting to realize Dirac and Majorana fermionic excitations and the possibility to manipulate them in materials for potential applications. Recently, it has been proposed that Weyl fermions, which are chiral, massless particles, can emerge in certain bulk materials or in topological insulator multilayers and can produce unusual transport properties, such as charge pumping driven by a chiral anomaly. A pair of Weyl fermions protected by crystalline symmetry, effectively forming a massless Dirac fermion, has been predicted to appear as low energy excitatio…
In the presence of spin-orbit coupling, electron scattering off impurities depends on both spin and orbital angular momentum of electrons -- spin-orbit scattering. Although some transport properties are subject to spin-orbit scattering, experimental techniques directly accessible to this effect are limited. Here we show that a signature of spin-orbit scattering manifests itself in quasiparticle interference (QPI) imaged by spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy. The experimental data of a polar semiconductor BiTeI are well reproduced by numerical simulations with the $T$-matrix fo…
The quantum Hall states at filling factors $ν=5/2$ and $7/2$ are expected to have Abelian charge $e/2$ quasiparticles and non-Abelian charge $e/4$ quasiparticles. The non-Abelian statistics of the latter has been predicted to display a striking interferometric signature, the even-odd effect. By measuring resistance oscillations as a function of magnetic field in Fabry-Pérot interferometers using new high purity heterostructures, we for the first time report experimental evidence for the non-Abelian nature of excitations at $ν=7/2$. At both $ν=5/2$ and $7/2$ we also examine, for the first time,…
Effects of Electron Form Factor on Quasiparticle Interference in Twisted Bilayer Graphene
Donostia International Physics Center（多诺斯蒂亚国际物理中心）；Advanced Polymers and Materials: Physics, Chemistry and Technology, Chemistry Faculty (UPV/EHU)（巴斯克国立大学/阿尔卡拉大学（UPV/EHU）化学学院先进聚合物与材料：物理、化学与技术）；IMDEA Nanoscience（IMDEA纳米科学研究所）；IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯科，巴斯克科学基金会）
We study symmetry protected features in the quasiparticle interference (QPI) pattern of 2D systems with mirror symmetries and time-reversal symmetry, around a single static point impurity. We show that, in the Fourier transformed local density of states (FT-LDOS), $ρ(\bq,ω)$, while the position of high intensity peaks generically depends on the geometric features of the iso-energy contour at energy $ω$, the \emph{absence} of certain peaks is guaranteed by the opposite mirror eigenvalues of the two Bloch states that are (i) on the mirror symmetric lines in the Brillouin zone (BZ) and (ii) separ…
We determine the effect of quasiparticle interference on the spatial variations of the local density of states (LDOS) in graphite in the neighborhood of an isolated impurity. A number of characteristic behaviors of interference are identified in the Fourier transformed spectrum. A comparison between our results and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments could provide a critical test of the range (of energy) of applicability of the Fermi liquid description of graphite, where some evidence of the breakdown of Fermi liquid theory has recently been discussed. Moreover, given the similarit…
It has recently been proposed that combining chirality with topological band theory may result in a totally new class of fermions. These particles have distinct properties: they appear at high symmetry points of the reciprocal lattice, they are connected by helicoidal surface Fermi arcs spanning the entire Brillouin zone, and they are expected to exist over a large energy range. Additionally, they are expected to give rise to totally new effects forbidden in other topological classes. Understanding how these unconventional quasiparticles propagate and interact is crucial for exploiting their p…
We calculate, within the single-loop or equivalently the Hartree-Fock Approximation (HFA), the finite-temperature interacting compressibility for three-dimensional (3D) Dirac materials and renormalized quasiparticle velocities for 3D and two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials. We find that in the extrinsic (i.e., doped) system, the inverse compressibility (incompressibility) and renormalized quasiparticle velocity at $k=0$ show nonmonotonic dependences on temperature. At low temperatures the incompressibility initially decreases to a shallow minimum with a $T^2 \ln T$ dependence. As the temperat…
Recent schemes for experimentally probing non-abelian statistics in the quantum Hall effect are based on geometries where current-carrying quasiparticles flow along edges that encircle bulk quasiparticles, which are localized. Here we consider one such scheme, the Fabry-Perot interferometer, and analyze how its interference patterns are affected by a coupling that allows tunneling of neutral Majorana fermions between the bulk and edge. While at weak coupling this tunneling degrades the interference signal, we find that at strong coupling, the bulk quasiparticle becomes essentially absorbed by …
The fundamental excitations in superconductors - Bogoliubov quasiparticles - can be either a resource or a liability in superconducting devices: they are what enables photon detection in microwave kinetic inductance detectors, but they are a source of errors in qubits and electron pumps. To improve operation of the latter devices, ways to mitigate quasiparticle effects have been devised; in particular, combining different materials quasiparticles can be trapped where they do no harm and their generation can be impeded. We review recent developments in these mitigation efforts and discuss open …
The fractional quantum Hall states have long been predicted to be a testing ground of fractional (anyonic) exchange statistics. These topological states harbor quasiparticles with fractional charges of both abelian and non-abelian characters. The quasiparticles' charge is commonly determined by shot noise measurements (1, 2), and states' statistics can be revealed by appropriately interfering the quasiparticles. While the multipath Fabry-Perot electronic interferometer (FPI) is easier to fabricate, it is often plagued by Coulomb interactions (3), its area breathes with the magnetic field (4), …
