Weyl semimetal with broken time reversal and inversion symmetries

Abstract

Weyl semimetal is a new topological state of matter, characterized by the presence of nondegenerate band-touching nodes, separated in momentum space, in its band structure. Here we discuss a particular realization of a Weyl semimetal: a superlattice heterostructure, made of alternating layers of topological insulator and normal insulator material, introduced by one of us before. The Weyl node splitting is achieved most easily in this system by breaking time reversal symmetry, for example by magnetic doping. If, however, spatial inversion (I) symmetry remains, the Weyl nodes will occur at the same energy, making it possible to align the Fermi energy simultaneously with both nodes. The goal of this work is to explore the consequences of breaking the I symmetry in this system. We demonstrate that, while this generally moves the Weyl nodes to different energies, thus eliminating nodal semimetal and producing a state with electron and hole Fermi surfaces, the topological properties of the Weyl semimetal state, i.e., the chiral edge states and the corresponding Hall conductivity, survive for moderate I symmetry breaking. Moreover, we demonstrate that a new topological phenomenon arises in this case, if an external magnetic field along the growth direction of the heterostructure is applied. Namely, this leads to an equilibrium dissipationless current, flowing along the direction of the field, whose magnitude is proportional to the energy difference between the Weyl nodes and to the magnetic field, with a universal coefficient, given by a combination of fundamental constants.