• Zhijun Wang
  • M. G. Vergniory
  • S. Kushwaha
  • Max Hirschberger
  • E. V. Chulkov
  • A. Ernst
  • N. P. Ong
  • Robert J. Cava
  • B. Andrei Bernevig

Weyl fermions have recently been observed in several time-reversal-invariant semimetals and photonics materials with broken inversion symmetry. These systems are expected to have exotic transport properties such as the chiral anomaly. However, most discovered Weyl materials possess a substantial number of Weyl nodes close to the Fermi level that give rise to complicated transport properties. Here we predict, for the first time, a new family of Weyl systems defined by broken time-reversal symmetry, namely, Co-based magnetic Heusler materials XCo2Z (X=IVB or VB; Z=IVA or IIIA). To search for Weyl fermions in the centrosymmetric magnetic systems, we recall an easy and practical inversion invariant, which has been calculated to be -1, guaranteeing the existence of an odd number of pairs of Weyl fermions. These materials exhibit, when alloyed, only two Weyl nodes at the Fermi level - the minimum number possible in a condensed matter system. The Weyl nodes are protected by the rotational symmetry along the magnetic axis and separated by a large distance (of order 2π) in the Brillouin zone. The corresponding Fermi arcs have been calculated as well. This discovery provides a realistic and promising platform for manipulating and studying the magnetic Weyl physics in experiments.

Original languageEnglish
Article number236401
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume117
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Nov 2016

    Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

ID: 100699375