Mapping Domain Wall Topology in the Magnetic Weyl Semimetal CeAlSi


Abstract in English

We report full vector mapping of local magnetization in CeAlSi, a Weyl semimetal in which both inversion and time-reversal symmetries are broken. The vector maps reveal unanticipated features both within domains and at their boundaries. Boundaries between domains form two kinds of walls with distinct topology and therefore different interactions with Weyl fermions. Domain walls aligned along the tetragonal axes, e.g. (100), exhibit emergent chirality forbidden by the bulk space group, while diagonal walls are non-chiral. Within the domains, we observe that the previously reported set of four easy axes aligned along the in-plane diagonals of the tetragonal structure actually split to form an octet with decreasing temperature below the magnetic transition. All the above phenomena are ultimately traced to the noncollinear magnetic structure of CeAlSi.

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