Drumhead surface states that link together loops of nodal lines arise in Dirac nodal-line semimetals as a consequence of the topologically nontrivial band crossings. We used low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and Fourier-transformed scanning tunneling spectroscopy to investigate the quasiparticle interference (QPI) properties of ZrSiTe. Our results show two scattering signals across portions of the drumhead state resolving the energy-momentum relationship through the occupied and unoccupied energy ranges it is predicted to span. Observation of this drumhead state is in contrast to previous studies on ZrSiS and ZrSiSe, where the QPI was dominated by topologically trivial bulk bands and surface states. Furthermore, we observe a near $\mathbf{k}\to -\mathbf{k}$ scattering process across the $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ point, enabled by scattering between the spin-split drumhead bands in this material, showing the persistence of the drumhead state even in the presence of spin-orbit coupling.

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• Density of states
• Dirac fermions
• Edge states
• Electronic structure of atoms & molecules
• Local density of states
• Surface states
• Symmetry protected topological states
• Topological materials