Probing the chiral anomaly with nonlocal transport in Weyl semimetals

Date

Jul 18, 2013

Time

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Speaker

Dmytro Pesin

Affiliation

University of Utah

Language

en

Main Topic

Physik

Other Topics

Physik

Host

SPORE13

Description

Weyl semimetals are three-dimensional crystalline systems where pairs of bands touch at points in momentum space, termed Weyl nodes, that are characterized by a definite topological charge: the chirality. Consequently, they exhibit the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly, which in this condensed matter realization implies that application of parallel electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields pumps electrons between nodes of opposite chirality at a rate proportional to E
B. We argue that this pumping is measurable via nonlocal transport experiments, in the limit of weak internode scattering. Specifically, we show that as a consequence of the anomaly, applying a local magnetic field parallel to an injected current induces a valley imbalance that diffuses over long distances. A probe magnetic field can then convert this imbalance into a measurable voltage drop far from source and drain. Such nonlocal transport vanishes when the injected current and magnetic field are orthogonal, and therefore serves as a test of the chiral anomaly. Since the nodes are analogous to valley degrees of freedom in semiconductors, this suggests that valley currents in Weyl semimetals can be controlled using electric fields, which has potential practical 'valleytronic' applications.

Last modified: Jul 18, 2013, 9:52:48 AM