Based on the ab initio calculations, we show that ${\mathrm{MoTe}}_2$, in its low-temperature orthorhombic structure characterized by an x-ray diffraction study at 100 K, realizes 4 type-II Weyl points between the $N$th and ($N+1$)th bands, where $N$ is the total number of valence electrons per unit cell. Other WPs and nodal lines between different other bands also appear close to the Fermi level due to a complex topological band structure. We predict a series of strain-driven topological phase transitions in this compound, opening a wide range of possible experimental realizations of different topological semimetal phases. Crucially, with no strain, the number of observable surface Fermi arcs in this material is 2—the smallest number of arcs consistent with time-reversal symmetry.

• Received 15 December 2015
• Corrected 29 May 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.056805