Fermi Arcs and DC Transport in Nanowires of Dirac and Weyl Semimetals

authored by: Pavlo O. Sukhachov, Mykhailo V. Rakov, Olena M. Teslyk, Eduard V. Gorbar
Abstract: The transport properties and electron states in cylinder nanowires of Dirac and Weyl semimetals are studied paying special attention to the structure and properties of the surface Fermi arcs. The latter make the electric charge and current density distributions in nanowires strongly nonuniform as the majority of the charge density is accumulated at the surface. It is found that a Weyl semimetal wire also supports a magnetization current localized mainly at the surface because of the Fermi arcs contribution. By using the Kubo linear response approach, the direct current (DC) conductivity is calculated and it is found that its spatial profile is nontrivial. By explicitly separating the contributions of the surface and bulk states, it is shown that when the electric chemical potential and/or the radius of the wire is small, the electron transport is determined primarily by the Fermi arcs and the electrical conductivity is much higher at the surface than in the bulk. Due to the rise of the surface-bulk transition rate, the relative contribution of the surface states to the total conductivity gradually diminishes as the chemical potential increases. In addition, the DC conductivity at the surface demonstrates noticeable peaks when the Fermi level crosses energies of the surface states.
External Organisation(s): Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University
Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics Nasu
Type: Article
Journal: Annalen der Physik
Volume: 532
ISSN: 0003-3804
Publication date: 01.02.2020
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Physics and Astronomy(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.201900449 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{b440ae08a7ea44aa863f3c87da11a8f7,
title = "Fermi Arcs and DC Transport in Nanowires of Dirac and Weyl Semimetals",
abstract = "The transport properties and electron states in cylinder nanowires of Dirac and Weyl semimetals are studied paying special attention to the structure and properties of the surface Fermi arcs. The latter make the electric charge and current density distributions in nanowires strongly nonuniform as the majority of the charge density is accumulated at the surface. It is found that a Weyl semimetal wire also supports a magnetization current localized mainly at the surface because of the Fermi arcs contribution. By using the Kubo linear response approach, the direct current (DC) conductivity is calculated and it is found that its spatial profile is nontrivial. By explicitly separating the contributions of the surface and bulk states, it is shown that when the electric chemical potential and/or the radius of the wire is small, the electron transport is determined primarily by the Fermi arcs and the electrical conductivity is much higher at the surface than in the bulk. Due to the rise of the surface-bulk transition rate, the relative contribution of the surface states to the total conductivity gradually diminishes as the chemical potential increases. In addition, the DC conductivity at the surface demonstrates noticeable peaks when the Fermi level crosses energies of the surface states.",
keywords = "electronic transport, Fermi arcs, nanowire, Weyl and Dirac semimetals",
author = "Sukhachov, {Pavlo O.} and Rakov, {Mykhailo V.} and Teslyk, {Olena M.} and Gorbar, {Eduard V.}",
note = "Funding information: The authors are grateful to I. A. Shovkovy, J. H. Bardarson, and V. Kaladzhyan for useful discussions. P.O.S. was supported by the Villum Fonden via the Centre of Excellence for Dirac Materials (Grant No. 11744), the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Program Synergy HERO, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation KAW 2018.0104. M.V.R. acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Germany's Excellence Strategy - EXC-2123/1. The work of E.V.G. was supported partially by the Ukrainian State Foundation for Fundamental Research.",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/andp.201900449",
language = "English",
volume = "532",
journal = "Annalen der Physik",
issn = "0003-3804",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "2",
}