Discovery of topological chiral crystals with helicoid arc states

Abstract

The quantum behaviour of electrons in materials lays the foundation for modern electronic and information technology. Quantum materials with novel electronic and optical properties have been proposed as the next frontier, but much remains to be discovered to actualize the promise. Here we report the first observation of topological quantum properties of chiral crystals in the RhSi family. We demonsrate that this material hosts novel phase of matter exhibiting nearly ideal topological surface properties that emerge as a consequence of the crystals' structural chirality or handedness. We also demonstrate that the electrons on the surface of this crystal show a highly unusual helicoid structure that spirals around two high-symmetry momenta signalling its topological electronic chirality. Such helicoid Fermi arcs on the surface experimentally characterize the topological charges of $\pm{2}$, which arise from the bulk chiral fermions. The existence of bulk high-fold degenerate fermions are guaranteed by the crystal symmetries, however, in order to determine the topological charge in the chiral crystals it is essential to identify and study the helical arc states. Remarkably, these topological conductors we discovered exhibit helical Fermi arcs which are of length $π$, stretching across the entire Brillouin zone and orders of magnitude larger than those found in all known Weyl semimetals. Our results demonstrate novel electronic topological state of matter on a structurally chiral crystal featuring helicoid Fermi arc surface states. The exotic electronic chiral fermion state realised in these materials can be used to detect a quantised photogalvanic optical response or the chiral magnetic effect and its optical version in future devices as described by G. Chang \textit{et.al.,} `Topological quantum properties of chiral crystals' Nature Mat. 17, 978-985 (2018).