Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal

Cheng Long Zhang; Su Yang Xu; Ilya Belopolski; Zhujun Yuan; Ziquan Lin; Bingbing Tong; Guang Bian; Nasser Alidoust; Chi Cheng Lee; Shin Ming Huang; Tay Rong Chang; Guoqing Chang; Chuang Han Hsu; Horng Tay Jeng; Madhab Neupane; Daniel S. Sanchez; Hao Zheng; Junfeng Wang; Hsin Lin; Chi Zhang; Hai Zhou Lu; Shun Qing Shen; Titus Neupert; M. Zahid Hasan; Shuang Jia

doi:10.1038/ncomms10735

Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal

Cheng Long Zhang, Su Yang Xu, Ilya Belopolski, Zhujun Yuan, Ziquan Lin, Bingbing Tong, Guang Bian, Nasser Alidoust, Chi Cheng Lee, Shin Ming Huang, Tay Rong Chang, Guoqing Chang, Chuang Han Hsu, Horng Tay Jeng, Madhab Neupane, Daniel S. Sanchez, Hao Zheng, Junfeng Wang, Hsin Lin, Chi ZhangHai Zhou Lu, Shun Qing Shen, Titus Neupert, M. Zahid Hasan, Shuang Jia

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Abstract

Weyl semimetals provide the realization of Weyl fermions in solid-state physics. Among all the physical phenomena that are enabled by Weyl semimetals, the chiral anomaly is the most unusual one. Here, we report signatures of the chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport measurements on the first Weyl semimetal TaAs. We show negative magnetoresistance under parallel electric and magnetic fields, that is, unlike most metals whose resistivity increases under an external magnetic field, we observe that our high mobility TaAs samples become more conductive as a magnetic field is applied along the direction of the current for certain ranges of the field strength. We present systematically detailed data and careful analyses, which allow us to exclude other possible origins of the observed negative magnetoresistance. Our transport data, corroborated by photoemission measurements, first-principles calculations and theoretical analyses, collectively demonstrate signatures of the Weyl fermion chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport of TaAs.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	10735
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10735
State	Published - Feb 25 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/ncomms10735

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Zhang, C. L., Xu, S. Y., Belopolski, I., Yuan, Z., Lin, Z., Tong, B., Bian, G., Alidoust, N., Lee, C. C., Huang, S. M., Chang, T. R., Chang, G., Hsu, C. H., Jeng, H. T., Neupane, M., Sanchez, D. S., Zheng, H., Wang, J., Lin, H., ... Jia, S. (2016). Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal. Nature communications, 7, Article 10735. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10735

@article{68be5aef34984475bb8d68defd9f1369,

title = "Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal",

abstract = "Weyl semimetals provide the realization of Weyl fermions in solid-state physics. Among all the physical phenomena that are enabled by Weyl semimetals, the chiral anomaly is the most unusual one. Here, we report signatures of the chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport measurements on the first Weyl semimetal TaAs. We show negative magnetoresistance under parallel electric and magnetic fields, that is, unlike most metals whose resistivity increases under an external magnetic field, we observe that our high mobility TaAs samples become more conductive as a magnetic field is applied along the direction of the current for certain ranges of the field strength. We present systematically detailed data and careful analyses, which allow us to exclude other possible origins of the observed negative magnetoresistance. Our transport data, corroborated by photoemission measurements, first-principles calculations and theoretical analyses, collectively demonstrate signatures of the Weyl fermion chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport of TaAs.",

author = "Zhang, {Cheng Long} and Xu, {Su Yang} and Ilya Belopolski and Zhujun Yuan and Ziquan Lin and Bingbing Tong and Guang Bian and Nasser Alidoust and Lee, {Chi Cheng} and Huang, {Shin Ming} and Chang, {Tay Rong} and Guoqing Chang and Hsu, {Chuang Han} and Jeng, {Horng Tay} and Madhab Neupane and Sanchez, {Daniel S.} and Hao Zheng and Junfeng Wang and Hsin Lin and Chi Zhang and Lu, {Hai Zhou} and Shen, {Shun Qing} and Titus Neupert and Hasan, {M. Zahid} and Shuang Jia",

note = "Funding Information: M.Z.H., S.-Y.X. and I.B. thank I. Klebanov, A. Polyakov and H. Verlinde for theoretical discussions. T.N. thanks A.G. Grushin for discussions. S.J. thanks J. Xiong and F. Wang for valuable discussions, and C.-L.Z. and Z.Y. thank Y. Li and J. Feng for using instruments in their groups. The work at Princeton and Princeton-led synchrotron-based measurements were supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant GBMF4547 (Hasan). S.J. was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2013CB921901 and 2014CB239302) and by the Opening Project of Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center (Grant No.PHMFF2015001), Huazhong University of Science and Technology. C.Z. was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No.11374020). H.-Z.L. acknowledges the Singapore National Research Foundation for the support under NRF Award No. NRF-NRFF2013-03. S.-Q.S. was supported by the Research Grant Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong under Grant No. 17303714. M.N. was supported by the start-up funds from University of Central Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) program. H.L. was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11574127. We gratefully acknowledge J.D. Denlinger, S.K. Mo, A.V. Fedorov, M. Hashimoto, M. Hoesch, T. Kim and V.N. Strocov for their beamline assistance at the Advanced Light Source, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, the Diamond Light Source and the Swiss Light Source. Visits to Princeton University by S.-M.H., G.C., T.-R.C and H.L. were partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) under the funding number DE-FG-02-05ER46200.",

year = "2016",

month = feb,

day = "25",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms10735",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "7",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

Zhang, CL, Xu, SY, Belopolski, I, Yuan, Z, Lin, Z, Tong, B, Bian, G, Alidoust, N, Lee, CC, Huang, SM, Chang, TR, Chang, G, Hsu, CH, Jeng, HT, Neupane, M, Sanchez, DS, Zheng, H, Wang, J, Lin, H, Zhang, C, Lu, HZ, Shen, SQ, Neupert, T, Hasan, MZ & Jia, S 2016, 'Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal', Nature communications, vol. 7, 10735. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10735

TY - JOUR

T1 - Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal

AU - Zhang, Cheng Long

AU - Xu, Su Yang

AU - Belopolski, Ilya

AU - Yuan, Zhujun

AU - Lin, Ziquan

AU - Tong, Bingbing

AU - Bian, Guang

AU - Alidoust, Nasser

AU - Lee, Chi Cheng

AU - Huang, Shin Ming

AU - Chang, Tay Rong

AU - Chang, Guoqing

AU - Hsu, Chuang Han

AU - Jeng, Horng Tay

AU - Neupane, Madhab

AU - Sanchez, Daniel S.

AU - Zheng, Hao

AU - Wang, Junfeng

AU - Lin, Hsin

AU - Zhang, Chi

AU - Lu, Hai Zhou

AU - Shen, Shun Qing

AU - Neupert, Titus

AU - Hasan, M. Zahid

AU - Jia, Shuang

N1 - Funding Information: M.Z.H., S.-Y.X. and I.B. thank I. Klebanov, A. Polyakov and H. Verlinde for theoretical discussions. T.N. thanks A.G. Grushin for discussions. S.J. thanks J. Xiong and F. Wang for valuable discussions, and C.-L.Z. and Z.Y. thank Y. Li and J. Feng for using instruments in their groups. The work at Princeton and Princeton-led synchrotron-based measurements were supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant GBMF4547 (Hasan). S.J. was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2013CB921901 and 2014CB239302) and by the Opening Project of Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center (Grant No.PHMFF2015001), Huazhong University of Science and Technology. C.Z. was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No.11374020). H.-Z.L. acknowledges the Singapore National Research Foundation for the support under NRF Award No. NRF-NRFF2013-03. S.-Q.S. was supported by the Research Grant Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong under Grant No. 17303714. M.N. was supported by the start-up funds from University of Central Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) program. H.L. was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11574127. We gratefully acknowledge J.D. Denlinger, S.K. Mo, A.V. Fedorov, M. Hashimoto, M. Hoesch, T. Kim and V.N. Strocov for their beamline assistance at the Advanced Light Source, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, the Diamond Light Source and the Swiss Light Source. Visits to Princeton University by S.-M.H., G.C., T.-R.C and H.L. were partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) under the funding number DE-FG-02-05ER46200.

PY - 2016/2/25

Y1 - 2016/2/25

N2 - Weyl semimetals provide the realization of Weyl fermions in solid-state physics. Among all the physical phenomena that are enabled by Weyl semimetals, the chiral anomaly is the most unusual one. Here, we report signatures of the chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport measurements on the first Weyl semimetal TaAs. We show negative magnetoresistance under parallel electric and magnetic fields, that is, unlike most metals whose resistivity increases under an external magnetic field, we observe that our high mobility TaAs samples become more conductive as a magnetic field is applied along the direction of the current for certain ranges of the field strength. We present systematically detailed data and careful analyses, which allow us to exclude other possible origins of the observed negative magnetoresistance. Our transport data, corroborated by photoemission measurements, first-principles calculations and theoretical analyses, collectively demonstrate signatures of the Weyl fermion chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport of TaAs.

AB - Weyl semimetals provide the realization of Weyl fermions in solid-state physics. Among all the physical phenomena that are enabled by Weyl semimetals, the chiral anomaly is the most unusual one. Here, we report signatures of the chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport measurements on the first Weyl semimetal TaAs. We show negative magnetoresistance under parallel electric and magnetic fields, that is, unlike most metals whose resistivity increases under an external magnetic field, we observe that our high mobility TaAs samples become more conductive as a magnetic field is applied along the direction of the current for certain ranges of the field strength. We present systematically detailed data and careful analyses, which allow us to exclude other possible origins of the observed negative magnetoresistance. Our transport data, corroborated by photoemission measurements, first-principles calculations and theoretical analyses, collectively demonstrate signatures of the Weyl fermion chiral anomaly in the magneto-transport of TaAs.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959449636&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84959449636&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms10735

DO - 10.1038/ncomms10735

M3 - Article

C2 - 26911701

AN - SCOPUS:84959449636

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 7

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

M1 - 10735

ER -

Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl fermion semimetal

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