Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs
Abstract
Weyl semimetals host chiral fermions with distinct chiralities and spin textures. Optical excitations involving those chiral fermions can induce exotic carrier responses, and in turn lead to novel optical phenomena. Here, we discover strong coherent terahertz emission from Weyl semimetal TaAs, which is demonstrated as a unique broadband source of the chiral terahertz wave. The polarization control of the THz emission is achieved by tuning photoexcitation of ultrafast photocurrents via the photogalvanic effect. In the near-infrared regime, the photon-energy dependent nonthermal current due to the predominant circular photogalvanic effect can be attributed to the radical change of the band velocities when the chiral Weyl fermions are excited during selective optical transitions between the tilted anisotropic Weyl cones and the massive bulk bands. Our findings provide a design concept for creating chiral photon sources using quantum materials and open up new opportunities for developing ultrafast opto-electronics using Weyl physics.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[6];
[7];
[1]
- Univ. of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (China)
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
- Peking Univ., Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Univ. of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (China); Univ. of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Dongguan (China)
- Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Songshan Lake Materials Lab., Dongguan (China)
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1806572
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1606188
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-213750-2020-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723; TRN: US2212763
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0017662; SC0012704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; Spintronics; Terahertz optics; Topological matter
Citation Formats
Gao, Y., Kaushik, S., Philip, E. J., Li, Z., Qin, Y., Liu, Y. P., Zhang, W. L., Su, Y. L., Chen, X., Weng, H., Kharzeev, D. E., Liu, M. K., and Qi, J. Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14463-1.
Gao, Y., Kaushik, S., Philip, E. J., Li, Z., Qin, Y., Liu, Y. P., Zhang, W. L., Su, Y. L., Chen, X., Weng, H., Kharzeev, D. E., Liu, M. K., & Qi, J. Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14463-1
Gao, Y., Kaushik, S., Philip, E. J., Li, Z., Qin, Y., Liu, Y. P., Zhang, W. L., Su, Y. L., Chen, X., Weng, H., Kharzeev, D. E., Liu, M. K., and Qi, J. Wed .
"Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14463-1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1806572.
@article{osti_1806572,
title = {Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs},
author = {Gao, Y. and Kaushik, S. and Philip, E. J. and Li, Z. and Qin, Y. and Liu, Y. P. and Zhang, W. L. and Su, Y. L. and Chen, X. and Weng, H. and Kharzeev, D. E. and Liu, M. K. and Qi, J.},
abstractNote = {Weyl semimetals host chiral fermions with distinct chiralities and spin textures. Optical excitations involving those chiral fermions can induce exotic carrier responses, and in turn lead to novel optical phenomena. Here, we discover strong coherent terahertz emission from Weyl semimetal TaAs, which is demonstrated as a unique broadband source of the chiral terahertz wave. The polarization control of the THz emission is achieved by tuning photoexcitation of ultrafast photocurrents via the photogalvanic effect. In the near-infrared regime, the photon-energy dependent nonthermal current due to the predominant circular photogalvanic effect can be attributed to the radical change of the band velocities when the chiral Weyl fermions are excited during selective optical transitions between the tilted anisotropic Weyl cones and the massive bulk bands. Our findings provide a design concept for creating chiral photon sources using quantum materials and open up new opportunities for developing ultrafast opto-electronics using Weyl physics.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-14463-1},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Wed Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
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