Electronic properties of defects inWeyl semimetal tantalum arsenide**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11635003, 11025524, and 11161130520), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2010CB832903), and the European Commissions of 7th Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IRSES) (Grant No. 269131).

Abstract

The tantalum arsenide (TaAs) is a topological Weyl semimetal which is a class of materials of gapless with three-dimensional topological structure. In order to develop a comprehensive description of the topological properties of the Weyl semimetal, we use the density functional theory to study several defects of TaAs after H irradiation and report the electronic dispersion curves and the density of states of these defects. We find that various defects have different influences on the topological properties. Interstitial H atom can shift the Fermi level. Both Ta vacancy with a concentration of 1/64 and As vacancy with a concentration of 1/64 destruct a part of the Weyl points. The substitutional H atom on a Ta site could repair only a part of the Weyl points, while H atom on an As site could repair all the Weyl points.