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Topological Singularity Induced Chiral Kohn Anomaly in a Weyl Semimetal

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
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  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research; Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  6. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
+ Show Author Affiliations

The electron-phonon interaction (EPI) is instrumental in a wide variety of phenomena in solid-state physics, such as electrical resistivity in metals, carrier mobility, optical transition, and polaron effects in semiconductors, lifetime of hot carriers, transition temperature in BCS superconductors, and even spin relaxation in diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers for quantum information processing. However, due to the weak EPI strength, most phenomena have focused on electronic properties rather than on phonon properties. One prominent exception is the Kohn anomaly, where phonon softening can emerge when the phonon wave vector nests the Fermi surface of metals. In this paper, we report a new class of Kohn anomaly in a topological Weyl semimetal (WSM), predicted by field-theoretical calculations, and experimentally observed through inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering on WSM tantalum phosphide. Compared to the conventional Kohn anomaly, the Fermi surface in a WSM exhibits multiple topological singularities of Weyl nodes, leading to a distinct nesting condition with chiral selection, a power-law divergence, and non-negligible dynamical effects. Our work brings the concept of the Kohn anomaly into WSMs and sheds light on elucidating the EPI mechanism in emergent topological materials.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundationl (NSF); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; SC0020148
OSTI ID:
1633429
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1642125
OSTI ID: 1651247
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 124; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Inelastic neutron scattering
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