In 1929, H. Weyl proposed that the massless solution of the Dirac equation represents a pair of a new type of particles, the so-called Weyl fermions 1 . However, their existence in particle physics remains elusive after more than eight decades. Recently, significant advances in both topological insulators and topological semimetals have provided an alternative way to realize Weyl fermions in condensed matter, as an emergent phenomenon: when two non-degenerate bands in the three-dimensional momentum space cross in the vicinity of the Fermi energy (called Weyl nodes), the low-energy excitations behave exactly as Weyl fermions. Here we report the direct observation in TaAs of the long-sought-after Weyl nodes by performing bulk-sensitive soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements. The projected locations at the nodes on the (001) surface match well to the Fermi arcs, providing undisputable experimental evidence for the existence of Weyl fermionic quasiparticles in TaAs.The massless Dirac equation in the three-dimensional (3D) momentum space can be regarded as the overlap of two Weyl fermions with opposite chirality 1,2 . The Dirac fermionic quasiparticle is stable under the protection of some crystal symmetry in topological Dirac semimetals such as Na 3 Bi (ref. 3) and Cd 3 As 2 (ref. 4). However, a separated single Weyl node is much more robust and requires no protection of crystal symmetry. An isolated Weyl node is a sink or source of gauge field of Berry curvature, like a monopole in momentum space, and the chirality corresponds to its topological charge [5][6][7] . Weyl nodes appear in pairs of opposite chirality in a real material due to the 'No-go theorem' 8,9 . To obtain isolated Weyl nodes, the spin degeneracy of the electronic bands has to be removed by breaking either inversion symmetry or time-reversal symmetry. Although non-degenerate band crossing is not rare, finding a material with only Weyl nodes near the Fermi energy (E F ) is a big challenge. Recently, the noncentrosymmetric and non-magnetic transition-metal monoarsenide TaAs has been predicted to be a Weyl semimetal (WSM), and twelve pairs of Weyl nodes are expected in its 3D Brillouin zone (BZ; refs 10,11). Compared with other proposals 6,7,12-22 for realizing a Weyl state, the TaAs family features easy sample fabrication, a non-magnetic state and no fine-tuning of the electronic states is necessary, making experimental studies of Weyl semimetals possible. Many exotic properties induced by the Weyl nodes have been predicted and observed recently, such as surface states with Fermi arcs 23,24 and a negative magneto-resistivity 25,26 due to the chiral anomaly 27-29 . However, crucial evidence for Weyl nodes in the bulk states has not been observed. In this paper, by using soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), which is sensitive to the bulk states, we report the first experimental observation of Weyl nodes in TaAs.TaAs crystallizes in a body-centred-tetragonal structure with the nonsymmorphic space group...

Three types of fermions play a fundamental role in our understanding of nature: Dirac, Majorana and Weyl. Whereas Dirac fermions have been known for decades, the latter two have not been observed as any fundamental particle in high-energy physics, and have emerged as a much-sought-out treasure in condensed matter physics. A Weyl semimetal is a novel crystal whose low-energy electronic excitations behave as Weyl fermions. It has received worldwide interest and is believed to open the next era of condensed matter physics after graphene and three-dimensional topological insulators. However, experimental research has been held back because Weyl semimetals are extremely rare in nature. Here, we present the experimental discovery of the Weyl semimetal state in an inversion-symmetry-breaking single-crystalline solid, niobium arsenide (NbAs). Utilizing the combination of soft X-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, we systematically study both the surface and bulk electronic structure of NbAs. We experimentally observe both the Weyl cones in the bulk and the Fermi arcs on the surface of this system. Our ARPES data, in agreement with our theoretical band structure calculations, identify the Weyl semimetal state in NbAs, which provides a real platform to test the potential of Weyltronics. W eyl semimetals have received significant attention in recent years because they extend the classification of topological phases beyond insulators, host exotic Fermi arc surface states, demonstrate unusual transport phenomena and provide an emergent condensed matter realization of Weyl fermions, which do not exist as fundamental particles in the standard model 1-21 . Such kind of topologically non-trivial semimetals are believed to open a new era in condensed matter physics. In contrast to topological insulators, where only the surface states are interesting, a Weyl semimetal features unusual band structure in the bulk and on the surface, leading to novel phenomena and potential applications. This opens up unparalleled research opportunities, where both bulk-and surface-sensitive experimental probes can measure the topological nature and detect quantum phenomena. In the bulk, a Weyl semimetal has a band structure with band crossings, Weyl nodes, which are associated with definite chiral charges. Unlike the two-dimensional Dirac points in graphene, the surface-state Dirac point of a threedimensional topological insulator or the three-dimensional Dirac points in the bulk of a Dirac semimetal, the degeneracy associated with a Weyl node does not require any symmetry for its protection, other than the translation symmetry of the crystal lattice. The low-energy quasiparticle excitations of a Weyl semimetal are chiral fermions described by the Weyl equation, well known in highenergy physics, which gives rise to a condensed matter analogue of the chiral anomaly associated with a negative magnetoresistance in transport [16][17][18][19][20][21] . On the surface, the non-trivial topology guarantees the existence of surface states in the f...

When viewed as an elementary particle, the electron has spin and charge. When binding to the atomic nucleus, it also acquires an angular momentum quantum number corresponding to the quantized atomic orbital it occupies. Even if electrons in solids form bands and delocalize from the nuclei, in Mott insulators they retain their three fundamental quantum numbers: spin, charge and orbital. The hallmark of one-dimensional physics is a breaking up of the elementary electron into its separate degrees of freedom. The separation of the electron into independent quasi-particles that carry either spin (spinons) or charge (holons) was first observed fifteen years ago. Here we report observation of the separation of the orbital degree of freedom (orbiton) using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering on the one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr2CuO3. We resolve an orbiton separating itself from spinons and propagating through the lattice as a distinct quasi-particle with a substantial dispersion in energy over momentum, of about 0.2 electronvolts, over nearly one Brillouin zone.

A Weyl semimetal possesses spin-polarized band-crossings, called Weyl nodes, connected by topological surface arcs. The low-energy excitations near the crossing points behave the same as massless Weyl fermions, leading to exotic properties like chiral anomaly. To have the transport properties dominated by Weyl fermions, Weyl nodes need to locate nearly at the chemical potential and enclosed by pairs of individual Fermi surfaces with non-zero Fermi Chern numbers. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculation, here we show that TaP is a Weyl semimetal with only a single type of Weyl fermions, topologically distinguished from TaAs where two types of Weyl fermions contribute to the low-energy physical properties. The simple Weyl fermions in TaP are not only of fundamental interests but also of great potential for future applications. Fermi arcs on the Ta-terminated surface are observed, which appear in a different pattern from that on the As-termination in TaAs and NbAs.

We probe the collective magnetic modes of La2CuO4 and underdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) by momentum resolved resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Cu L3 edge. For the undoped antiferromagnetic sample, we show that the single magnon dispersion measured with RIXS coincides with the one determined by inelastic neutron scattering, thus demonstrating that x rays are an alternative to neutrons in this field. In the spin dynamics of LSCO, we find a branch dispersing up to approximately 400 meV coexisting with one at lower energy. The high-energy branch has never been seen before. It indicates that underdoped LSCO is in a dynamic inhomogeneous spin state.

The concepts and technical realisation of the high-resolution soft X-ray beamline ADRESS operating in the energy range from 300 to 1600 eV and intended for resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) are described. The photon source is an undulator of novel fixed-gap design where longitudinal movement of permanent magnetic arrays controls not only the light polarization (including circular and 0-180 rotatable linear polarizations) but also the energy without changing the gap. The beamline optics is based on the well established scheme of planegrating monochromator operating in collimated light. The ultimate resolving power E/ÁE is above 33000 at 1 keV photon energy. The choice of blazed versus lamellar gratings and optimization of their profile parameters is described. Owing to glancing angles on the mirrors as well as optimized groove densities and profiles of the gratings, the beamline is capable of delivering high photon flux up to 1 Â 10 13 photons s À1 (0.01% BW) À1 at 1 keV. Ellipsoidal refocusing optics used for the RIXS endstation demagnifies the vertical spot size down to 4 mm, which allows slitless operation and thus maximal transmission of the highresolution RIXS spectrometer delivering E/ÁE > 11000 at 1 keV photon energy. Apart from the beamline optics, an overview of the control system is given, the diagnostics and software tools are described, and strategies used for the optical alignment are discussed. An introduction to the concepts and instrumental realisation of the ARPES and RIXS endstations is given.

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Condensed matter systems can host quasiparticle excitations that are analogues to elementary particles such as Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac fermions. Recent advances in band theory have expanded the classification of fermions in crystals, and revealed crystal symmetry-protected electron excitations that have no high-energy counterparts.Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we demonstrate the existence of a triply degenerate point in the electronic structure of MoP crystal, where the quasiparticle excitations are beyond the Majorana-Weyl-Dirac classification.Furthermore, we observe pairs of Weyl points in the bulk electronic structure coexisting with the 'new fermions', thus introducing a platform for studying the interplay between different types of fermions.In quantum field theory, Lorentz invariance gives three types of fermions, namely, the Dirac, Weyl and Majorana fermions (1,2). While it is still under debate whether any elementary particle of Weyl or Majorana types exists, all three types of fermions have been proposed to exist as low-energy and long-wavelength quasiparticle excitations in condensed matter systems (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). The existence of Dirac and Weyl fermions has been experimentally confirmed (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) and that of Majorana fermions has been supported by various experiments (21,22). Recently, it has been shown theoretically that as the Poincare group (Lorentz group plus 4-translation) in the continuum space-time is reduced to the 230 space groups in lattices, more types of fermions (dubbed 'new fermions') are allowed to appear as quasiparticle excitations near certain band crossing points (23-29).Specially, it is well known that fermion statistics is incompatible with three-fold degeneracy in the continuum due to the half-integer spin; yet, three-fold degeneracy (triply degenerate point (TP)) can be protected in a lattice either by rotation symmetries (25-29) or nonsymmorphic symmetries (23,24). In either case, the three-component fermions conceptually lie between Weyl fermions (two-component) and Dirac fermions (four-component) (Fig. 1A), and carry characteristic properties distinct from the other two, including unique surface states and transport features. The crossing point is triply degenerate and protected by the C 3 symmetry along Γ-A, which is similar to the case of the Dirac semimetals Na 3 Bi (7) and Cd 3 As 2 (9). With SOC considered, the bands along Γ-A are reconstructed into two doubly-degenerate |J z | = 1/2 bands and two non-degenerate |J z | = 3/2 bands due to the M z mirror symmetry. The crossing points of the bands with different |J z | are protected by the C 3 symmetry, forming four TPs along the Γ-A line (Fig. 1F).We first perform core level photoemission measurements, which confirms the chemical composition of MoP ( Fig. 2A). respectively. We observe one hexagonal hole pocket around Γ and one small hole pocket at K at k z = 0, as well as one almost circular electron pocket around Α at k z = π.These experimental...