Surface Electronic States and Inclining Surfaces in MoTe2 Probed by Photoemission Spectromicroscopy

The electronic structure of MoTe2 undergoing a monoclinic -orthorhombic transition around 250K has been investigated by means of scanning photoemission spectromicroscopy (SPEM), angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and band structure calculation. The ARPES results show that the electron and hole pockets are modified due to electronic correlation similar to WTe2. In the SPEM results, MoTe2 cleaved in the low temperature orthorhombic phase hosts two kinds of domains with different inclining which would be related to the monoclinic distortion at high temperature. Interestingly, different surface states are observed in the different domains. Although the present data set is insufficient to prove one-to-one correspondence between the inclining and the surface state, it is suggested that surface state can be controlled by the inclining associated with the monoclinic-orthorhombic transition.

Automated summary

Investigation on the electronic structure of MoTe2 undergoing a monoclinic-orthorhombic transition around 250K using various techniques reveals modifications in electron and hole pockets similar to WTe2 due to electronic correlation. Different surface states are observed in different domains of MoTe2 cleaved in the low temperature orthorhombic phase, suggesting a potential correlation between surface states and monoclinic-orthorhombic transition.