Transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent induced by linearly polarized light in mirror-symmetric Weyl semimetals
Abstract
A new class of photocurrents is predicted to occur in both type-I and type-II Weyl semimetals. Unlike the previously studied photocurrents in chiral materials, the proposed current requires neither circularly polarized light, nor an absence of symmetry with respect to a plane of reflection. We show that if a Weyl semimetal has a broken inversion symmetry then linearly polarized light can induce a photocurrent transverse to the direction of an applied magnetic field, in spite of the symmetry with respect to a reflection plane and the time reversal symmetry. The class of materials in which we expect this to occur is sufficiently broad and includes the transition metal monopnictides such as TaAs. The effect stems from the dynamics of Weyl chiral quasi-particles in a magnetic field, restricted by the symmetries described above; because the resulting current is transverse to the direction of magnetic field, we call it the transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent. The magnitude of the resulting photocurrent is predicted to be significant in the THz frequency range, about 0.75μA for type-I and 2.5μA for type-II Weyl semimetals. This opens the possibility to utilize the predicted transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent for sensing unpolarized THz radiation.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security (AU), Office of Environmental Protection and ES&H Reporting; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 2325373
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1673407; OSTI ID: 1673410; OSTI ID: 1673411; OSTI ID: 1673412; OSTI ID: 1806571; OSTI ID: 2280525
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC-0017662; FG-88ER40388; SC-0012704; SC0017662; SC0012704; FG02-88ER40388
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Research
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Physical Review Research Journal Volume: 2 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2643-1564
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Chirality; Topological effects in photonic systems; Weyl fermions; Weyl semimetal; Terahertz techniques; 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
Citation Formats
Kaushik, Sahal, Kharzeev, Dmitri E., and Philip, Evan John. Transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent induced by linearly polarized light in mirror-symmetric Weyl semimetals. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011.
Kaushik, Sahal, Kharzeev, Dmitri E., & Philip, Evan John. Transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent induced by linearly polarized light in mirror-symmetric Weyl semimetals. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011
Kaushik, Sahal, Kharzeev, Dmitri E., and Philip, Evan John. Wed .
"Transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent induced by linearly polarized light in mirror-symmetric Weyl semimetals". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011.
@article{osti_2325373,
title = {Transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent induced by linearly polarized light in mirror-symmetric Weyl semimetals},
author = {Kaushik, Sahal and Kharzeev, Dmitri E. and Philip, Evan John},
abstractNote = {A new class of photocurrents is predicted to occur in both type-I and type-II Weyl semimetals. Unlike the previously studied photocurrents in chiral materials, the proposed current requires neither circularly polarized light, nor an absence of symmetry with respect to a plane of reflection. We show that if a Weyl semimetal has a broken inversion symmetry then linearly polarized light can induce a photocurrent transverse to the direction of an applied magnetic field, in spite of the symmetry with respect to a reflection plane and the time reversal symmetry. The class of materials in which we expect this to occur is sufficiently broad and includes the transition metal monopnictides such as TaAs. The effect stems from the dynamics of Weyl chiral quasi-particles in a magnetic field, restricted by the symmetries described above; because the resulting current is transverse to the direction of magnetic field, we call it the transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent. The magnitude of the resulting photocurrent is predicted to be significant in the THz frequency range, about 0.75μA for type-I and 2.5μA for type-II Weyl semimetals. This opens the possibility to utilize the predicted transverse chiral magnetic photocurrent for sensing unpolarized THz radiation.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011},
journal = {Physical Review Research},
number = 4,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.042011
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FIG. 1: Weyl cones which possess both anisotropy and tilt. These Weyl cones are similar to the $W$1 cones of the prototypical type-I Weyl semimetal used for numerical calculations in this paper. The shading represents energy and the color represents chirality.
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