English

Single pair of Weyl nodes in the spin-canted structure of EuCd$_2$As$_2$

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2022-06-30 v3

Abstract

Time reversal symmetry breaking Weyl semimetals are unique among Weyl materials in allowing the minimal number of Weyl points thus offering the clearest signatures of the associated physics. Here we present neutron diffraction, density functional theory and transport measurement results which indicate that EuCd2_2As2_2 , under ambient field, strain and pressure, is such a material with a single pair of Weyl points. Our work reveals a magnetic structure (magnetic space group C2/mC2'/m') with Eu moments pointing along the [210] direction in-plane and canted \sim 30^{\circ} out-of-plane. Density functional theory calculations using this structure show that the observed canting drastically alters the relevant electronic bands, relative to the in-plane order, leading to a single set of well defined Weyl points. Furthermore, we find the canting angle can tune the distance of the Weyl points above the Fermi level, with the smallest distance at low canting angles. Finally, transport measurements of the anomalous Hall Effect and longitudinal magnetoresistance exhibit properties indicative of a chiral anomaly, thus supporting the neutron scattering and DFT results suggesting EuCd2_2As2_2 is close to the ideal situation of the Weyl "Hydrogen atom".

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.01555,
  title  = {Single pair of Weyl nodes in the spin-canted structure of EuCd$_2$As$_2$},
  author = {K. M. Taddei and L. Yin and L. D. Sanjeewa and Y. Li and J. Xing and C. dela Cruz and D. Phelan and A. S. Sefat and D. Parker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.01555},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

8 pages, 4 figures