No Arabic abstract
We experimentally compare two types of interface structures with magnetic and non-magnetic Weyl semimetals. They are the junctions between a gold normal layer and magnetic Weyl semimetal Ti$_2$MnAl, and a ferromagnetic nickel layer and non-magnetic Weyl semimetal WTe$_2$, respectively. Due to the ferromagnetic side of the junction, we investigate spin-polarized transport through the Weyl semimetal surface. For both structures, we demonstrate similar current-voltage characteristics, with hysteresis at low currents and sharp peaks in differential resistance at high ones. Despite this behavior resembles the known current-induced magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic structures, evolution of the resistance peaks with magnetic field is unusual. We connect the observed effects with current-induced spin dynamics in Weyl topological surface states.
We investigate electron transport along the surface of WTe$_2$ three-dimensional single crystals, which are characterized by coexistence of Weyl semimetal conductivity and ferroelectricity at room temperature. We find that non-linear behavior of $dV/dI(I)$ WTe$_2$ differential resistance is accompanied by slow relaxation process, which appears as the $dV/dI(I)$ dependence on the sign of the current change. This observation is confirmed by direct investigation of time-dependent relaxation curves. While strongly non-linear differential resistance should be expected for the zero-gap WTe$_2$, the slow relaxation in transport is very unusual for well-conducting semimetals at room temperature. We establish, that non-monotonous dependence of the amplitude of the effect on driving current $Delta dV/dI(I)$ well corresponds to the known Sawyer-Towers ferroelectric hysteresis loop. This conclusion is also confirmed by gate voltage dependencies, so our results can be understood as a direct demonstration of WTe$_2$ ferroelectric polarization in charge transport experiment.
We study transport through a Weyl semimetal quantum dot sandwiched between an $s$-wave superconductor and a normal lead. The conductance peaks at regular intervals and exhibits double periodicity with respect to two characteristic frequencies of the system, one that originates from Klein tunneling in the system and the other coming from the chiral nature of the excitations. Using a scattering matrix approach as well as a lattice simulation, we demonstrate the universal features of the conductance through the system and discuss the feasibility of observing them in experiments.
We present a theoretical study of spin-dependent transport through a ferromagnetic domain wall. With an increase of the number of components of the exchange coupling, we have observed that the variance of the conductance becomes half. As the strength of the domain wall magnetization is increased, negative magnetoresistance is also observed.
Topological semimetal, hosting spin-1 Weyl point beyond Dirac and Weyl points, has attracted a great deal of attention. However, the spin-1 Weyl semimetal, which possesses exclusively the spin-1 Weyl points in a clean frequency window, without shadowed by any other nodal points, is yet to be discovered. Here, we report for the first time a spin-1 Weyl semimetal in a phononic crystal. Its spin-1 Weyl points, touched by two linear dispersions and an additional flat band, carry monopole charges (-2,0,2) or (2,0,-2) for the three bands from bottom to top, and result in double Fermi arcs existing both between the 1st and 2nd bands, as well as between the 2nd and 3rd bands. We further observe robust propagation against the multiple joints and topological negative refraction of acoustic surface arc wave. Our results pave the way to explore on the macroscopic scale the exotic properties of the spin-1 Weyl physics.
We study thermoelectric transport through double quantum dots system with spin-dependent interdot coupling and ferromagnetic electrodes by means of the non-equilibrium Green function in the linear response regime. It is found that the thermoelectric coefficients are strongly dependent on the splitting of interdot coupling, the relative magnetic configurations and the spin polarization of leads. In particular, the thermoelectric efficiency can achieve considerable value in parallel configuration when the effective interdot coupling and tunnel coupling between QDs and the leads for spin-down electrons are small. Moreover, the thermoelectric efficiency increases with the intradot Coulomb interactions increasing and can reach very high value at an appropriate temperature. In the presence of the magnetic field, the spin accumulation in leads strongly suppresses the thermoelectric efficiency and a pure spin thermopower can be obtained.