The rich nontrivial topological phases rooted in the interplay between magnetism and topology in the layered antiferromagnet EuCd2As2 have captured vast attention, especially the ideal Weyl semimetal state realized in the spin-polarized ferromagnetic (FM) structure driven by a moderate external magnetic field. In this work, combining high-pressure magnetotransport measurements, structure chracterizations and first principles calculations, we find that application of pressure can also realize the ideal Weyl state in EuCd2As2 through driving the in-plane antiferromagnetic state across an intermediate in-plane FM state then into the out-of-plane FM state. Our high-pressure angle dispersive X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy measurements excluded structure transition and/or change of Eu2+ valence state as the sources for the magnetic phase transitions. Alternatively, the apparently reduced axial ratio (c/a) and compressed Eu-layer space distance should play important roles. Our result provides an alternative way to realize the ideal Weyl semimetal state in EuCd2As2 and would be instructive for the exploration of exotic topological properties in such layered magnetic topological phase with strongly competing magnetic exchanges by using high pressure.
@article{arxiv.2202.06016,
title = {Pressure-induced ideal Weyl semimetal state in the layered antiferromagnet EuCd2As2},
author = {Zhenhai Yu1 and Xuejiao Chen and Wei Xia and Ningning Wang and Xiaodong Lv and Xiaolei Liu and Hao Su and Zhongyang Li and Desheng Wu and Wei Wu and Ziyi Liu and Jinggeng Zhao and Mingtao Li and Shujia Li and Xin Li and Zhaohui Dong and Chunyin Zhou and Lili Zhang and Xia Wang and Na Yu and Zhiqiang Zou and Jianlin Luo and Jinguang Cheng and Lin Wang and Zhicheng Zhong and Yanfeng Guo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.06016},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
main text 16 pages,4 figures and SI 8 pages, 4 figures