Creating stable Floquet-Weyl semimetals by laser-driving of 3D Dirac materials.

ABSTRACT: Tuning and stabilizing topological states, such as Weyl semimetals, Dirac semimetals or topological insulators, is emerging as one of the major topics in materials science. Periodic driving of many-body systems offers a platform to design Floquet states of matter with tunable electronic properties on ultrafast timescales. Here we show by first principles calculations how femtosecond laser pulses with circularly polarized light can be used to switch between Weyl semimetal, Dirac semimetal and topological insulator states in a prototypical three-dimensional (3D) Dirac material, Na₃Bi. Our findings are general and apply to any 3D Dirac semimetal. We discuss the concept of time-dependent bands and steering of Floquet-Weyl points and demonstrate how light can enhance topological prot

SUBMITTER: Hubener H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5247574 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature