Optical signatures of multifold fermions in the chiral topological semimetal CoSi

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2010752117
• Publication Date: 2020-10-20T00:31:38Z
• Authors: Bing Xu; Zhenyao Fang; Miguel-Ángel Sánc...; Jorn W. F. Venderbos; Zhuoliang Ni; Tian Qiu; Kaustuv Manna; Kefeng Wang; Johnpierre Paglione; Christian Bernhard; Claudia Felser; Eugene J. Mele; Adolfo G. Grushin; Andrew M. Rappe; Liang Wu
• Keywords: [PHYS]Physics [physics]; Condensed Matter - Materials Science; Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); 500; Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci); FOS: Physical sciences; 530; 01 natural sciences; Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons; Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); 0103 physical sciences

Significance We present a comprehensive combined experimental and theoretical study of optical conductivity in the chiral topological semimetal CoSi based on the development of high-quality crystals. We reveal the presence and the energy range of various exotic multifold quasiparticles in the optical responses and provide experimental evidence for the realization of fourfold spin-3/2 fermions, which were not directly observed previously. Our work is critical to interpreting future optical and transport responses of multifold fermion materials. We believe the methods used in this work will not only stimulate future research in this class of materials but will also provide a strategy for addressing optical signatures of chiral topological fermions in solids.