Intrinsic magnetic topological materials

Topological states of matter possess bulk electronic structures categorized by topological invariants and edge/surface states due to the bulk-boundary correspondence. Topological materials hold great potential in the development of dissipationless spintronics, information storage and quantum computation, particularly if combined with magnetic order intrinsically or extrinsically. Here, we review the recent progress in the exploration of intrinsic magnetic topological materials, including but not limited to magnetic topological insulators, magnetic topological metals, and magnetic Weyl semimetals. We pay special attention to their characteristic band features such as the gap of topological surface state, gapped Dirac cone induced by magnetization (either bulk or surface), Weyl nodal point/line and Fermi arc, as well as the exotic transport responses resulting from such band features. We conclude with a brief envision for experimental explorations of new physics or effects by incorporating other orders in intrinsic magnetic topological materials.     

Tunable anisotropic anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in Floquet Weyl semimetals

Weyl semimetals and nodal line semimetals display a host of novel properties. Floquet Weyl semimetals with tunable Weyl points can be obtained from nodal line semimetals under the circularly polarized off-resonant light. Here we theoretically investigate the anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in Floquet Weyl semimetals. Due to the anisotropy of the band structure in Floquet Weyl semimetals, highly anisotropic Berry phase mediated anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in the absence of magnetic field are observed, indicating orientation-dependent applications in the design of nanodevices. The amplitude and sign of anomalous Nernst coefficient and orbital magnetization can be tuned by the light direction, amplitude and polarization. The effect of the chemical potential on anomalous Nernst coefficient and orbital magnetization is also discussed. The light-modulated anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization make Floquet Weyl semimetals potential candidates for thermoelectric devices.     

外尔半金属及其输运特性

外尔半金属是继石墨烯以及拓扑绝缘体之后的又一个研究热点。相比于后两者,外尔半金 属独特的三维无能隙线性色散能带结构使得它有很多奇特的性质,如：手性反常、手性磁效应、 反弱局域化、手性朗道能级和负磁阻效应等。实际样品中无序总是不可避免的,所以考虑无序对 体系的影响是很有必要的。我们回顾了无序下第一类以及第二类外尔半金属的相变特性,并获得 了完整的相图,这些无序诱导的相变丰富了拓扑安德森绝缘体和安德森金属绝缘体相变的物理内 涵。我们同样回顾了长程短程无序影响下的第一类外尔半金属体系的输运,发现了一种不能采用 玻尔兹曼输运方程来描述的输运过程。我们介绍Imbert-Fedorov 位移这一光学中的效应在外尔 半金属中的实现,这为更好地应用外尔半金属提供了更多的可能性,随后采用波包散射,我们解 释了外尔半金属中的超高载流子迁移率问题的原因,最后我们给出一个简要的总结。     

磁性材料的磁结构、磁畴结构和拓扑磁结构

首先简要地介绍了磁性材料中磁结构、磁畴结构和拓扑磁结构以及相互之间的关系. 一方面, 磁畴结构由材料的磁结构、内禀磁性和微结构因素决定; 另一方面, 磁畴结构决定了材料磁化和退磁化过程以及技术磁性. 拓扑学与材料物理、材料性能的联系越来越紧密. 最近的研究兴趣集中在一些拓扑磁性组态, 如涡旋、磁泡、麦纫、斯格米子等. 研究发现这些拓扑磁结构的拓扑性质与磁性能密切相关. 然后从尺寸效应、缺陷、晶界三个方面介绍国际学术界在磁结构、磁畴结构和拓扑磁结构方面的进展. 最后介绍了在稀土永磁薄膜材料的微观结构、磁畴结构和磁性能关系、交换耦合纳米盘中的拓扑磁结构及其动力学行为方面的工作. 通过对文献的评述, 得到以下结论: 开展各向异性纳米复合稀土永磁材料的研究对更好地利用稀土资源具有重要的意义. 可以有目的地改变材料的微结构, 可控地进行磁性材料的磁畴工程, 最终获得优秀的磁性能. 拓扑学的概念正在应用于越来越多的学科领域, 在越来越多的材料中发现拓扑学的贡献. 研究磁畴结构、拓扑磁性基态或者激发态的形成规律以及动力学行为对理解量子拓扑相变以及其他与拓扑相关的物理效应是十分重要的. 也会帮助理解不同拓扑学态之间相互作用的物理机制及其与磁性能之间的关系, 同时拓展拓扑学在新型磁性材料中的应用.     

反铁磁半金属 EuCd2Pn2（Pn = As,Sb）中磁交换诱导的外尔态

由于丰富的拓扑量子效应及巨大的潜在应用价值,拓扑材料逐渐成为凝聚态物理前沿的研究材料体系。其中,作为与石墨烯具有相似电子结构的材料,三维拓扑半金属吸引了越来越多的研究兴趣。目前已知的拓扑半金属大多为非磁性的,而磁性拓扑半金属数量有限,与非磁性拓扑半金属相比较,研究开展的还比较少。磁性与拓扑之间的相互作用能够导致非常规的物理性质,如反常霍尔效应甚至量子反常霍尔效应等。此外,在一些具有特殊磁结构的拓扑半金属中,施加外磁场能够调制其自旋结构,从而影响其拓扑能带结构。在该综述中,笔者将详细介绍利用外磁场在 EuCd2Pn2 (Pn = As, Sb) 反铁磁半金属材料中通过调制自旋结构从而改变晶体结构对称性来诱导拓扑相变。此外,笔者也将简单介绍包括 GdPtBi 和 MnBi2Te4 在内的几个相关材料。该综述中讨论的外磁场调控的磁交换诱导的拓扑相变不仅有望应用于拓扑器件,也有助于为理解磁性与拓扑态之间的紧密关联提供新的线索,对于设计新的磁性拓扑材料有启发意义。综述最后,笔者对发展磁性拓扑半金属做了一些简单展望。     

Intrinsic V vacancy and large magnetoresistance in V1-δSb2 single crystal

The binary pnictide semimetals have attracted considerable attention due to their fantastic physical properties that include topological effects, negative magnetoresistance, Weyl fermions, and large non-saturation magnetoresistance. In this paper, we have successfully grown the high-quality V_1-δSb₂ single crystals by Sb flux method and investigated their electronic transport properties. A large positive magnetoresistance that reaches 477% under a magnetic field of 12 T at T = 1.8 K was observed. Notably, the magnetoresistance showed a cusp-like feature at the low magnetic fields and such feature weakened gradually as the temperature increased, which indicated the presence of a weak antilocalization effect (WAL). In addition, based upon the experimental and theoretical band structure calculations, V_1-δSb₂ is a research candidate for a flat band.     

Detecting three-dimensional Weyl semimetal with a laser pulse

Three-dimensional Weyl semimetals have attracted many interests nowadays as they own novel topological properties. Here we propose to detect the Weyl semimetal by the scattered electrons (SEs) in the presence of a magnetic field. A laser pulse may cause the transition of electrons between different Landau levels (LLs) and therefore the SEs are induced. We make a detailed analysis of the SEs and find that the SEs and accompanying selection rules are different when the laser pulse acts perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field. We also investigate the influence of temperature on the SEs. In addition, a comparison with graphene was also made, where the SEs exhibit δ-peaks. The implications of our results in experiment are discussed.     

Three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in Weyl and double-Weyl semimetals

The well-known quantum Hall effect (QHE) was usually studied in 2D systems. In this work, we investigate the integer QHE in 3D Weyl and double-Weyl semimetals. Based on the lattice models of Weyl and double-Weyl semimetals subjected to a uniform magnetic field, we derive the generalized 3D spinfull Hofstadter Hamiltonians and Harper equations for the two systems, and obtain their corresponding energy spectra. Furthermore, we show that for proper hopping parameters and rational magnetic fluxes, both systems exhibit the 3D QHE when the Fermi level lies in some band gaps. The 3D QHE is topologically characterized by three Chern numbers with one or two nonzero Chern values which are respectively defined for three crystal planes. The possible experimental realization and detection of the 3D QHE are also discussed.     

Weak antilocalization and interaction-induced localization of Dirac and Weyl Fermions in topological insulators and semimetals

Weak localization and antilocalization are quantum transport phenomena that arise from the quantum interference in disordered metals.At low temperatures,they can give distinct temperature and magnetic field dependences in conductivity,allowing the symmetry of the system to be explored.In the past few years,they have also been observed in newly emergent topological materials,including topological insulators and topological semimetals.In contrast from the conventional electrons,in these new materials the quasiparticles are described as Dirac or Weyl fermions.In this article,we review our recent efforts on the theories of weak antilocalization and interaction-induced localization for Dirac and Weyl fermions in topological insulators and topological semimetals.     

Chiral magnetic effect without chirality source in asymmetric Weyl semimetals

We describe a new type of the chiral magnetic effect (CME) that should occur in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) with an asymmetry in the dispersion relations of the left- and right-handed (LH and RH) chiral Weyl fermions. In such materials, time-dependent pumping of electrons from a non-chiral external source can generate a non-vanishing chiral chemical potential. This is due to the different capacities of the LH and RH chiral Weyl cones arising from the difference in the density of states in the LH and RH cones. The chiral chemical potential then generates, via the chiral anomaly, a current along the direction of an applied magnetic field even in the absence of an external electric field. The source of chirality imbalance in this new setup is thus due to the band structure of the system and the presence of (non-chiral) electron source, and not due to the parallel electric and magnetic fields. We illustrate the effect by an argument based on the effective field theory, and by the chiral kinetic theory calculation for a rotationally invariant WSM with different Fermi velocities in the left and right chiral Weyl cones; we also consider the case of a WSM with Weyl nodes at different energies. We argue that this effect is generically present in WSMs with different dispersion relations for LH and RH chiral Weyl cones, such as SrSi₂ recently predicted as a WSM with broken inversion and mirror symmetries, as long as the chiral relaxation time is much longer than the transport scattering time.     

Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields

Topological semimetals are three-dimensional topological states of matter, in which the conduction and valence bands touch at a finite number of points, i.e., the Weyl nodes. Topological semimetals host paired monopoles and antimonopoles of Berry curvature at the Weyl nodes and topologically protected Fermi arcs at certain surfaces. We review our recent works on quantum transport in topological semimetals, according to the strength of the magnetic field. At weak magnetic fields, there are competitions between the positive magnetoresistivity induced by the weak anti-localization effect and negative magnetoresistivity related to the nontrivial Berry curvature. We propose a fitting formula for the magnetoconductivity of the weak anti-localization. We expect that the weak localization may be induced by inter-valley effects and interaction effect, and occur in double-Weyl semimetals. For the negative magnetoresistance induced by the nontrivial Berry curvature in topological semimetals, we show the dependence of the negative magnetoresistance on the carrier density. At strong magnetic fields, specifically, in the quantum limit, the magnetoconductivity depends on the type and range of the scattering potential of disorder. The high-field positive magnetoconductivity may not be a compelling signature of the chiral anomaly. For long-range Gaussian scattering potential and half filling, the magnetoconductivity can be linear in the quantum limit. A minimal conductivity is found at the Weyl nodes although the density of states vanishes there.     

Electronic states with nontrivial topology in Dirac materials

The theoretical studies of phase states with a linear dispersion of the spectrum of low-energy electron excitations have been reviewed. Some main properties and methods of experimental study of these states in socalled Dirac materials have been discussed in detail. The results of modern studies of symmetry-protected electronic states with nontrivial topology have been reported. Combination of approaches based on geometry with homotopic topology methods and results of condensed matter physics makes it possible to clarify new features of topological insulators, as well as Dirac and Weyl semimetals.     

Anomalous Nernst effect in type-II Weyl semimetals

Topological Weyl semimetals (WSM), a new state of quantum matter with gapless nodal bulk spectrum and open Fermi arc surface states, have recently sparked enormous interest in condensed matter physics. Based on the symmetry and fermiology, it has been proposed that WSMs can be broadly classified into two types, type-I and type-II Weyl semimetals. While the undoped, conventional, type-I WSMs have point like Fermi surface and vanishing density of states (DOS) at the Fermi energy, the type-II Weyl semimetals break Lorentz symmetry explicitly and have tilted conical spectra with electron and hole pockets producing finite DOS at the Fermi level. The tilted conical spectrum and finite DOS at Fermi level in type-II WSMs have recently been shown to produce interesting effects such as a chiral anomaly induced longitudinal magnetoresistance that is strongly anisotropic in direction and a novel anomalous Hall effect. In this work, we consider the anomalous Nernst effect in type-II WSMs in the absence of an external magnetic field using the framework of semi-classical Boltzmann theory. Based on both a linearized model of time-reversal breaking WSM with a higher energy cut-off and a more realistic lattice model, we show that the anomalous Nernst response in these systems is strongly anisotropic in space, and can serve as a reliable signature of type-II Weyl semimetals in a host of magnetic systems with spontaneously broken time reversal symmetry.     

Aligned Electric and Magnetic Weyl Fields

The results on the non-existence of purely magnetic solutions are extended to the wider class of spacetimes which have homothetic electric and magnetic Weyl fields. This class is a particularization of the spacetimes admitting a direction for which the relative electric and magnetic Weyl fields are aligned. We give an invariant characterization of these metrics and study the properties of their Debever null vectors. The directions observing aligned electric and magnetic Weyl fields are obtained for every Petrov-Bel type.     

Novel trends in the study of magnetically soft Co-based amorphous glass-coated wires

An overview of the recent progress and state-of-the-art results in the investigation of the amorphous glass-coated wires with nearly zero magnetostriction is presented. These versatile microwires display enhanced soft magnetic properties, which make them suitable as sensing elements in various sensors for biomedical and automotive applications. Current results on their magnetic characteristics refer to a major refinement of their core-shell magnetic structure by taking into account the interdomain wall and to the thorough analysis of the magnetization within the outer shell. Experimental techniques such as giant magneto-impedance, magneto-resistance, and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements are employed to prove the outcome of the theoretical calculations. The impact of the magnetic structure of the outer shell on the propagation of domain walls in bistable amorphous wires is analyzed. Very recent results on the magnetization process in nearly zero magnetostrictive amorphous glass-coated wires with submicron dimensions are also reviewed.     

Topological nodal line semimetals predicted from first-principles calculations

Topological semimetals are newly discovered states of quantum matter, which have extended the concept of topological states from insulators to metals and attracted great research interest in recent years. In general, there are three kinds of topological semimetals, namely Dirac semimetals, Weyl semimetals, and nodal line semimetals. Nodal line semimetals can be considered as precursor states for other topological states. For example, starting from such nodal line states, the nodal line structure might evolve into Weyl points, convert into Dirac points, or become a topological insulator by introducing the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) or mass term. In this review paper, we introduce theoretical materials that show the nodal line semimetal state, including the all-carbon Mackay–Terrones crystal (MTC), anti-perovskite Cu₃PdN, pressed black phosphorus, and the CaP₃ family of materials, and we present the design principles for obtaining such novel states of matter.     

磁场中拓扑物态的量子输运

拓扑物态包括拓扑绝缘体、拓扑半金属以及拓扑超导体.拓扑物态奇异的能带结构以及受拓扑保护的新奇表面态,使其具有了独特的输运性质.拓扑半金属作为物质的一种三维拓扑态具有无能隙的准粒子激发,根据导带和价带的接触类型分为外尔半金属、狄拉克半金属和节线半金属.本文以拓扑半金属为主回顾了在磁场下拓扑物态中量子输运的最新工作,在不同的磁场范围内分别给出了描述拓扑物态输运行为的主要理论.     

Investigation of point-contact Andreev reflection on magnetic Weyl semimetal Co_3Sn_2S_2

Magnetic Weyl semimetals(WSMs) with broken time-reversal symmetry(TRS) hosting topological band structures are expected to provide an ideal platform for investigating topological superconductivity and spintronics. However, the experimental verification of magnetic WSMs is very challenging. Very recently, the kagome magnet Co_3Sn_2S_2 was confirmed to be a magnetic WSM by both angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy and consequently has become the focus of great attention. This paper reports a point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy(PCARS) investigation on the(001) surface and the side surface of the Co_3Sn_2S_2 single crystals, respectively. The measurements from the sample's(001) and side surfaces provide experimental evidence for transport spin polarization in the Co_3Sn_2S_2 magnetic WSM. Furthermore, the superconducting proximity effect in the Co_3Sn_2S_2 single crystal is successfully detected. The point-contact spectra(PCS) along the in-plane direction cannot be well fitted by theoretical models based on s-wave pairing, indicating that possible triplet p-wave superconductivity may be triggered at the interface, which paves the way for the future exploration of the topological superconductivity and Majorana states in broken TRS WSMs.     

氧化物稀磁半导体的研究进展

稀磁半导体是一种能同时利用电子的电荷和自旋属性,并兼具铁磁性能和半导体性能的自旋电子学材料。本文主要介绍ZnO、In2O3等氧化物稀磁半导体的研究进展,一是从实验角度介绍其制备、结构、磁性、电输运性质等特性;二是从理论角度对其磁交换能、电子结构、居里温度和磁性产生的机制进行阐述;三是在稀磁半导体的基础上进一步延伸,介绍其相关的异质结构的磁电阻效应,并在文章的最后对氧化物稀磁半导体的研究进行总结和展望。     

Magnetic superconductors: Model theories and experimental properties of rare-earth compounds

Superconducting and magnetically long-range ordered states were believed to be mutually exclusive phenomena. The discovery of rare-earth compounds in recent years, which exhibit both superconductivity and magnetic ordering (ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic or sinusoidal), has led to considerable theoretical and experimental work on such systems.In the present article, we give a review of various theoretical models and important experimental results. In the theoretical sections, we start with the Abrikosov-Gorkov pair breaking theory for dilute alloys and discuss its improvement in the work of Müller-Hartmann and Zittartz. Then, in the context of magnetic superconductors, various microscopic theories that have been advanced are presented. These predict re-entrant behaviour in some systems (ferromagnetic superconductors) and coexistence regions in others (particularly antiferromagnetic superconductors). Following this, phenomenological generalized Ginzburg-Landau theories for two kinds of orders (superconducting and magnetic) are presented. A section dealing with renormalization group analysis of phase diagrams in magnetic superconductors is given.In experimental sections, the properties of each rare-earth compounds (ternary as well as some tetranery) are reviewed. These involve susceptibility, heat capacity, resistivity, upper critical field, neutron scattering and magnetic resonance measurements. The anomalous behaviour of the upper critical field of antiferromagnetic superconductors near the Néel temperature is discussed both in theory sections and experimental section for various systems.