Fermi surface and nested magnetic breakdown in WTe2

Abstract

We report a detailed Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) study on the Weyl type-II semimetal WTe2 in magnetic fields up to 29 T. By using the SdH results to guide our density functional theory calculations, we are able to accurately determine its Fermi surface by employing a moderate Hubbard U term, which is an essential step in explaining the unusual electronic properties of this much studied material. In addition to the fundamental orbits, we observe magnetic breakdown, which can consistently be explained within the model of a Russian-doll nested Fermi surface of electron and hole pockets. The onset of magnetic breakdown in WTe2 is solely determined by impurity damping in contrast to magnetic breakdown scenarios in other metallic systems.