Sitemap/Chinese/CAS
2017
Research
SHMFF Users Observe Adler-Bell-Jackiw Anomaly in Type-II Weyl Semimetal
Author:L. Zhang    |    Time:2017-03-20    |    Hits:

 Using the low temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) at High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences(CHMFL), a research group in Najing University observed Anisotropic Adler-Bell-Jackiw (ABJ) anomaly in Type-II Weyl semimetal WTe1.98 crystals at the Quasi-classical Regime.

 

It provides experimental evidence of an anisotropic ABJ anomaly in a type-II Weyl semimetal.

 

Recognized as a remarkable phenomenon, ABJ anomaly originates from the breaking of chiral symmetry in the massless Weyl fermion under quantum fluctuation, which was mainly observed in high-energy particle physics and only recently in Weyl semimetals.

 

The observation of negative magnetoresistance (MR) along the b axis in electrical-gated WTe2 few-layered samples was reported recently.

Thus a natural question is whether one can dope-electrons into a WTe2  crystal to observe the ABJ anomaly, more specifically, a permanent ABJ anomaly rather than a temporary one under electrical gating.

 

In this study, the team adjusted the Fermi level of WTe2 delicately through electron-doping by adjusting the deficiency of Te and observed the anisotropy negative MR effect in the WTe1.8 crystal.

 

They found that the temperature-sensitive ABJ anomaly is attributed to a topological phase transition from a type-II Weyl semimetal to a trivial semimetal, which is verified by a first-principles calculation using experimentally determined lattice parameters at different temperatures.

 

Theoretical electrical transport study reveals that the observation of an anisotropic ABJ along both a axis and b axis in WTe1.98 is attributed to electrical transport in the quasiclassical regime.

 

Their work suggested that electron-doped WTe2 is an ideal playground to explore the novel properties in type-II Weyl semimetals.

 

The work was supported by the low temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) facility, a measurement system of the Steady High Magnet Field Facility (SHMFF) at CHMFL.

 

Their discovery have been published in Physical Review Letters with title Experimental Observation of Anisotropic Adler-Bell-Jackiw Anomaly in Type-II Weyl Semimetal WTe1.98 Crystals at the Quasiclassical Regime.

 

The temperature dependence of crystal structure change: (a) the XRD pattern for WTe1.8 at low temperature of 35K (the inset shows the crystal structure); (b) the temperature dependence of lattice constants of WTe1.8