Nonlocal manifestation of Fermi arc state in three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 nanoplates

One of the most striking features of topological matter is the unusual surface state, protecting the topologically nontrivial phase from its trivial counterpart. The recently emergent Weyl semimetal has disconnected Fermi arc surface states, due to the separated Weyl nodes with opposite chiralities. In the presence of a static magnetic field oriented perpendicular to the two opposite surfaces of a Weyl semimetal, those disjointed Fermi arcs from two opposite surfaces can intertwine with chiral bulk modes and participate in unusual closed magnetic orbits. The Fermi arc states can in principle be detected via the quantum oscillations associated with this magnetic orbit in electrical transport experiments. Here we demonstrate such kind of quantum oscillations in Dirac semimetal Cd3As2, a close cousin of Weyl semimetal. Due to the small ratio of surface to bulk contribution, the surface state quantum oscillations are faint in local detection but can be significantly manifested by nonlocal transport measurements. Our observations indicate that non-locality, as another feature of topological nature of Weyl semimetal, provides an alternative way to unveil the transport properties of Fermi arc surface states in three-dimensional topological semimetals.