» Articles » PMID: 30547657

Chirality Josephson Current Due to a Novel Quantum Anomaly in Inversion-Asymmetric Weyl Semimetals

Overview
Journal Phys Rev Lett
Specialty Biophysics
Date 2018 Dec 15
PMID 30547657
Citations 1
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

We study Josephson junctions based on inversion-asymmetric but time-reversal symmetric Weyl semimetals under the influence of Zeeman fields. We find that, due to distinct spin textures, the Weyl nodes of opposite chirality respond differently to an external magnetic field. Remarkably, a Zeeman field perpendicular to the junction direction results in a phase shift of opposite sign in the current-phase relations of opposite chirality. This leads to a finite chirality Josephson current (CJC) even in the absence of a phase difference across the junction. This feature could allow for applications in chiralitytronics. In the long junction and zero temperature limit, the CJC embodies a novel quantum anomaly of Goldstone bosons at π phase difference which is associated with a Z_{2} symmetry at low energies. It can be detected experimentally via an anomalous Fraunhofer pattern.

Citing Articles

Realization of Epitaxial NbP and TaP Weyl Semimetal Thin Films.

Bedoya-Pinto A, Pandeya A, Liu D, Deniz H, Chang K, Tan H ACS Nano. 2020; 14(4):4405-4413.

PMID: 32053338 PMC: 7307967. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b09997.