Journal article Open Access

Type-III Dirac fermions in HfxZr1-xTe2 topological semimetal candidate

Fragkos Sotirios; Tsipas Polychronis; Xenogiannopoulou Evangelia; PanayiotatosYerassimos; Dimoulas Athanasios

Topological semimetals host interesting new types of low-energy quasiparticles such as type-I and type-II Dirac and Weyl fermions. Type-III topological semimetals can emerge exactly at the border between type-I and II, characterized by a line-like Fermi surface and a flat energy dispersion near the topological band crossing. Here, we theoretically predict that 1T-HfTe2 and 1T-ZrTe2 transition metal dichalcogenides are type-I and type-II DSMs, respectively. By alloying the two materials, a new HfxZr1-xTe2 alloy with type-III Dirac cone emerges at x=0.2, in combination with 1% in-plane compressive strain. By imaging the electronic energy bands with in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of this random alloy with the desired composition, grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InAs(111) substrates, we provide experimental evidence that the tοp of type-III Dirac cone lies at -or very close-to-the Fermi level.

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