Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals
Abstract
Materials that rectify light into current in their bulk are desired for optoelectronic applications. In Weyl semimetals that break inversion symmetry, bulk photocurrents may arise due to nonlinear optical processes that are enhanced near the Weyl nodes. However, the photoresponse of these materials is commonly studied by scanning photocurrent microscopy, which convolves the effects of photocurrent generation and collection. Here we directly image the photocurrent flow inside the type-II Weyl semimetals WTe2 and TaIrTe4 using high-sensitivity quantum magnetometry with nitrogen-vacancy centre spins. We elucidate a mechanism for bulk photocurrent generation, which we call the anisotropic photothermoelectric effect, where unequal thermopowers along different crystal axes drive intricate circulations of photocurrent around the photoexcitation. Using overlapping scanning photocurrent microscopy and magnetic imaging at the interior and edges of the sample, we visualize how the anisotropic photothermoelectric effect stimulates the long-range photocurrent collected in our WTe2 and TaIrTe4 devices through the Shockley–Ramo mechanism. Furthermore, our results highlight a widely relevant source of current flow and will inspire photodetectors that utilize bulk materials with thermoelectric anisotropy.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[1];
[2];
[1];
[2];
[1];
[1]
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1922182
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0021071
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 19; Journal Issue: 4; Related Information: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01898-0#Sec9; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; quantum physics; mesoscale-nanoscale physics; weyl semimetals; anisotropic thermoelectric effect; electronic devices; electronic properties and materials; quantum metrology
Citation Formats
Wang, Yu-Xuan, Zhang, Xin-Yue, Li, Chunhua, Yao, Xiaohan, Duan, Ruihuan, Graham, Thomas K. M., Liu, Zheng, Tafti, Fazel, Broido, David, Ran, Ying, and Zhou, Brian B. Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals. United States: N. p., 2023.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01898-0.
Wang, Yu-Xuan, Zhang, Xin-Yue, Li, Chunhua, Yao, Xiaohan, Duan, Ruihuan, Graham, Thomas K. M., Liu, Zheng, Tafti, Fazel, Broido, David, Ran, Ying, & Zhou, Brian B. Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01898-0
Wang, Yu-Xuan, Zhang, Xin-Yue, Li, Chunhua, Yao, Xiaohan, Duan, Ruihuan, Graham, Thomas K. M., Liu, Zheng, Tafti, Fazel, Broido, David, Ran, Ying, and Zhou, Brian B. Mon .
"Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01898-0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1922182.
@article{osti_1922182,
title = {Visualization of bulk and edge photocurrent flow in anisotropic Weyl semimetals},
author = {Wang, Yu-Xuan and Zhang, Xin-Yue and Li, Chunhua and Yao, Xiaohan and Duan, Ruihuan and Graham, Thomas K. M. and Liu, Zheng and Tafti, Fazel and Broido, David and Ran, Ying and Zhou, Brian B.},
abstractNote = {Materials that rectify light into current in their bulk are desired for optoelectronic applications. In Weyl semimetals that break inversion symmetry, bulk photocurrents may arise due to nonlinear optical processes that are enhanced near the Weyl nodes. However, the photoresponse of these materials is commonly studied by scanning photocurrent microscopy, which convolves the effects of photocurrent generation and collection. Here we directly image the photocurrent flow inside the type-II Weyl semimetals WTe2 and TaIrTe4 using high-sensitivity quantum magnetometry with nitrogen-vacancy centre spins. We elucidate a mechanism for bulk photocurrent generation, which we call the anisotropic photothermoelectric effect, where unequal thermopowers along different crystal axes drive intricate circulations of photocurrent around the photoexcitation. Using overlapping scanning photocurrent microscopy and magnetic imaging at the interior and edges of the sample, we visualize how the anisotropic photothermoelectric effect stimulates the long-range photocurrent collected in our WTe2 and TaIrTe4 devices through the Shockley–Ramo mechanism. Furthermore, our results highlight a widely relevant source of current flow and will inspire photodetectors that utilize bulk materials with thermoelectric anisotropy.},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-022-01898-0},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = 4,
volume = 19,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 23 00:00:00 EST 2023},
month = {Mon Jan 23 00:00:00 EST 2023}
}
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