磁性外尔半金属材料研究现状与展望

外尔半金属是拓扑半金属家族中的一员。理想的外尔半金属费米面附近有且仅有非简并价带和导带形成的孤立能带交叉点,其低能激发准粒子可以用描述手性外尔费米子的外尔方程来刻画。在三维固体中形成外尔半金属态需要破缺时间反演、中心反演以及它们的组合对称操作。外尔点(即能带交叉点)具有拓扑稳定性和确定的手性或磁荷,且左右手性外尔点需成对出现。非磁性外尔半金属TaAs家族材料的发现,使得研究具有手征性的电子态,及其导致的新物性、新现象成为可能。与非磁性外尔半金属相比,磁性外尔半金属可以仅仅具有一对外尔点,是最简单的外尔半金属,有利于物理机理的分析。磁性外尔半金属可用于实现具有本征磁性的量子反常霍尔效应,提供了通过外磁场来调控外尔点及其相关效应的新手段。文章介绍了磁性外尔半金属的理论模型、拓扑数计算等基本原理,简要回顾了一些典型材料的理论计算和实验研究进展,并介绍了磁性拓扑量子化学理论和磁性拓扑材料的高通量计算,最后讨论了磁性外尔半金属的发展前景和未来的研究方向。     

Acoustic NMR in spin-1 systems

Acoustic magnetic resonance, both pulsed and continuous has been discussed in terms of the Bloch-Wangsness-Redfield formulation of the magnetic resonance phenomenon. The quadrupolar mechanism has been taken for the spin-phonon coupling and the mutual interaction has been treated in the ‘effective field approximation’. The expressions for the power absorbed both for Δm=±1 and Δm=±2 have been obtained. It is found that from the measurements of the relaxation parameters for Δm=±1 and Δm=±2 it is possible to estimate the non-secular contributions to the line-width. The power absorbed in pulse excitation comes out to be small for short pulse (short compared to the relaxation parameter) and it reduces to the value obtained in continuous excitation for a long pulse. It is seen that for a given pulse-width the signal decreases with the increase of the relaxation parameter and this happens as temperature is lowered. The saturation of electromagnetic signal in presence of the acoustic excitation has also been studied. The analysis indicates that the relaxation parameter obtained from the plot of the relative signal (〈〉_ω/〈〉₀) vs the acoustic frequency ω, is always less than its true value which can be determined by observing the frequency dependence of the relative fractional signal defined as [(〈〉₀?〈〉_ω)/〈〉_ω]/[(〈〉₀?〈〉_2ω0)/〈〉_2ω0].     

Weyl semimetal in a topological insulator multilayer

We propose a simple realization of the three-dimensional (3D) Weyl semimetal phase, utilizing a multilayer structure, composed of identical thin films of a magnetically doped 3D topological insulator, separated by ordinary-insulator spacer layers. We show that the phase diagram of this system contains a Weyl semimetal phase of the simplest possible kind, with only two Dirac nodes of opposite chirality, separated in momentum space, in its band structure. This Weyl semimetal has a finite anomalous Hall conductivity and chiral edge states and occurs as an intermediate phase between an ordinary insulator and a 3D quantum anomalous Hall insulator. We find that the Weyl semimetal has a nonzero dc conductivity at zero temperature, but Drude weight vanishing as T(2), and is thus an unusual metallic phase, characterized by a finite anomalous Hall conductivity and topologically protected edge states.     

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.     

Josephson current in an irradiated Weyl semimetal junction

The influence of the off-resonant circularly polarized light on the Josephson current in the time-reversal broken superconducting Weyl semimetal junctions is investigated by using the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equation and the transfer matrix approach. Both the zero momentum BCS pairing states and the finite momentum Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov(FFLO) pairing states are considered for the Weyl superconductors. When a circularly polarized light is applied, it is shown that the current phase relation remains unchanged for the BCS pairing with the increasing of incident radiation intensity A_0. For FFLO pairing, the Josephson current exhibits the 0–π transition and periodic oscillation as a function of A_0. The dependence of free energy and critical current on A_0 are also investigated.     

Pressure-tuning domain-wall chirality in noncentrosymmetric magnetic Weyl semimetal CeAlGe

Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy - The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is the largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope in the world and...     

Low-energy electronic properties of a Weyl semimetal quantum dot

We investigate the low-energy electronic structure of a Weyl semimetal quantum dot(QD) with a simple model Hamiltonian with only two Weyl points. Distinguished from the semiconductor and topological insulator QDs, there exist both surface and bulk states near the Fermi level in Weyl semimetal QDs. The surface state, distributed near the side surface of the QD, contributes a circular persistent current, an orbital magnetic moment, and a chiral spin polarization with spin-current locking. There are always surface states even for a strong magnetic field, even though a given surface state gradually evolves into a Landau level with increasing magnetic field. It indicates that these unique properties can be tuned via the QD size. In addition, we show the correspondence to the electronic structures of a three-dimensional Weyl semimetal, such as Weyl point and Fermi arc. Because a QD has the largest surface-to-volume ratio, it provides a new platform to verify Weyl semimetal by separating and detecting the signals of surface states. Besides, the study of Weyl QDs is also necessary for potential applications in nanoelectronics.     

Large unsaturated positive and negative magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetal TaP

After successfully growing single-crystal Ta P, we measured its longitudinal resistivity(ρxx) and Hall resistivity(ρyx) at magnetic fields up to 9 T in the temperature range of 2-300 K. At 8 T, the magnetoresistance(MR) reached 3.28 × 105% at 2 K, 176%at 300 K. Neither value appeared saturated. We confirmed that Ta P is a hole-electron compensated semimetal with a low carrier concentration and high hole mobility of μh=3.71 × 10~5cm~2/V s, and found that a magnetic-field-induced metal-insulator transition occurs at room temperature. Remarkably, because a magnetic field(H) was applied in parallel to the electric field(E), a negative MR due to a chiral anomaly was observed and reached-3000% at 9 T without any sign of saturation, either, which is in contrast to other Weyl semimetals(WSMs). The analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas(Sd H) oscillations superimposed on the MR revealed that a nontrivial Berry's phase with a strong offset of 0.3958, which is the characteristic feature of charge carriers enclosing a Weyl node. These results indicate that Ta P is a promising candidate not only for revealing fundamental physics of the WSM state but also for some novel applications.     

On the Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relations in a tilted Weyl semimetal

The Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relations are a fundamental symmetry of nonequilibrium statistical systems. Here we study an unusual chirality-dependent Hall effect in a tilted Weyl semimetal Co₃Sn₂S₂ with broken time-reversal symmetry. It is confirmed that the reciprocal relations are satisfied. Since two Berry curvature effects, an anomalous velocity and a chiral chemical potential, contribute to the observed Hall effect, the reciprocal relations suggest their intriguing connection.     

Impurity-induced states on the surface of a three-dimensional Weyl semimetal

We study theoretically the features of impurity-induced states on the surface of a three-dimensional Weyl semimetal in this work. For calculating the impurity-induced local density of states based on T-matrix formulation, we found that for different Weyl semimetal phases the behaviors of a local impurity exhibit distinguishable prominent features for the surface Fermi arc states. Due to two opposite-directional and -chirality surface currents for a surface, a bound state appears at the unitary limit of scattering intensity near the impurity site. Then the resonance condition for different Weyl semimetal phases and scattering intensity is investigated. Our results can be used to identify distinctive topological phases of Weyl semimetal. Furthermore, the relevance of topological nodal-point and -line systems is discussed. Some relation between our theoretical results and current experimental scheme are also discussed.     

Maximum entropy mobility spectrum analysis for the type-I Weyl semimetal TaAs

Due to non-saturating magnetoresistance (MR) and the special compensation mechanism, the Weyl semimetal TaAs single crystal has attracted considerable attention in condensed matter physics. Herein, we use maximum entropy mobility spectrum analysis (MEMSA) to extract charge carrier information by fitting the experimentally measured longitudinal and transverse electric transport curves of TaAs. The carrier types and the number of bands are obtained without any hypothesis. Study of the temperature dependence shows details of carrier property evolution. Our quantitative results explain the non-saturated magnetoresistance and Hall sign change phenomena of TaAs.     

Symmetrical broken and nonlinear response of Weyl semimetal TaAs influenced by the topological surface states and Weyl nodes

A Weyl semimetal (WSM) features Weyl fermions in its bulk and topological surface states on surfaces, and is novel material hosting Weyl fermions, a kind of fundamental particles. The WSM was regarded as a three‐dimensional version of “graphene” under the illusion. In order to explore its promising photoelectric properties and applications in photonics and photoelectronics, here, we study the anisotropic linear and nonlinear optical responses of a WSM TaAs, which are determined by the relationship and balance between its topological surface states and Weyl nodes. We demonstrate that topological surface states which break the bulk symmetry are responsible for the anisotropy of the mobility, and the anisotropic nonlinear response shows saturable characteristic with extremely large saturable intensity. We also find that the mobility is anisotropic with the magnitude of 10⁴ cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ at room temperature and can be accelerated by the optical field. By analyzing the symmetry, the nonlinear response is mainly contributed by the fermions close to the Weyl nodes, and is related to the Pauli's blocking of fermions, electron‐electron interaction. This work experimentally discovers the anisotropic ultrahigh mobility of WSMs in the optical field and may start the field for the applications of WSMs in photonics and photoelectronics.

     

Electronic properties of a Weyl semimetal in crossed magnetic and electric fields

The study of Weyl semimetals is one of the most challenging problems of condensed matter physics. These materials exhibit interesting properties in a magnetic field. In this work, we investigate the Landau bands and the density of states (DOS) oscillations in a Weyl semimetal in crossed magnetic and electric fields. An expression is obtained for the energy spectrum of the system using the following three different methods: an algebraic approach, a Lorentz shift-based approach, and a quasi-classical approach. It is interesting that the energy spectrum calculated in terms of the quasi-classical approach coincides with the spectrum obtained using the microscopic approaches. An electric field is shown to change the Landau bands radically. In addition, the classical motion of a three-dimensional Dirac fermion in crossed fields is studied. In the case of a Dirac spectrum, the longitudinal (with respect to magnetic field) component of momentum (p _z ∥ H) is shown to be an oscillating function of the magnetic field. When the electric field is v⊥H/c, the Landau levels collapse and the motion becomes fully linear in an unusual manner. In this case, the wavefunction of bulk states vanishes and only states with p _z = 0 are retained. An electric field affects the character of DOS oscillations. An analytical expression is obtained for the quantum capacitance in crossed fields in the cases of strong and weak electric fields. Thus, an electric field is an additional parameter for adjusting the diamagnetic properties of Weyl semimetals.     

Scanning tunneling microscopic investigation on morphology of magnetic Weyl semimetal YbMnBi_2

YbMnBi_2 is a recently discovered time-reversal-symmetry breaking type-Ⅱ Weyl semimetal.However, as a representation of the new category of topological matters, the scanning tunneling microcopy(STM) results on such important material are still absent.Here, we report the STM investigations on the morphology of vacuum cleaved single crystalline YbMnBi_2 samples.A hill and valley type of topography is observed on the YbMnBi_2 surface, which is consistent with the non-layer nature of its crystal structure.Analysis of STM images yields the information of the index of the vicinal surface.Our results here lay a playground of future atomic scale research on YbMnBi_2.     

Photoinduced Weyl semimetal phase and anomalous Hall effect in a three-dimensional topological insulator

Motivated by the fact that Weyl fermions can emerge in a three-dimensional topological insulator on breaking either time-reversal or inversion symmetries, we propose that a topological quantum phase transition to a Weyl semimetal phase occurs under the off-resonant circularly polarized light, in a three-dimensional topological insulator, when the intensity of the incident light exceeds a critical value. The circularly polarized light effectively generates a Zeeman exchange field and a renormalized Dirac mass, which are highly controllable. The phase transition can be exactly characterized by the first Chern number. A tunable anomalous Hall conductivity emerges, which is fully determined by the location of the Weyl nodes in momentum space, even in the doping regime. Our predictions are experimentally realizable through pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and raise a new way for realizing Weyl semimetals and quantum anomalous Hall effects.     

Hexagonal wurtzite MnO in ferromagnetic state: A magnetic topological spin-gapless Weyl semimetal

Magnetic topological materials have attracted increasingly attentions in recent years due to their exotic electronic behaviors emerging from the couplings of topological, magnetic, and crystalline symmetries. In this work, based on the first-principles calculations, we propose that hexagonal wurtzite MnO is a magnetic topological spin-gapless semi-half-metal with two pairs of type-I Weyl fermions near the Fermi level in ferromagnetic state, which is a promising candidate material in spintronic and piezoelectric applications. In the absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), it hosts one triple degeneracy point (TP) in the irreducible Brillouin zone. Owing to weak SOC, the TP splits into two type-I Weyl points that are very close to each other. The Fermi arc surface states connecting the projected Weyl points with opposite chirality are observed. Our results therefore provide a wonderful platform to study the interplay of magnetism and topology.     

Effect of a transverse electric field on the Landau bands in a Weyl semimetal

The Landau bands in crossed magnetic and electric fields are studied for the case of a Weyl semimetal. The expression for the energy spectrum of such a system is obtained using an approach based on the Lorentz shift. It is shown that the electric field leads to a substantial transformation of the Landau bands. At the electric field equal to v_F H/c, the collapse of the Landau levels occurs and the motion becomes completely linear. Under this condition, the wavefunction is nonzero only for the states with p _z = 0. This significantly affects the phenomena related to the unusual surface states, which are characteristic of such materials.