Strain induced Chiral Magnetic Effect in Weyl semimetals

TL;DR

Applying strain to Weyl semimetals in a magnetic field can generate an observable electric current through the chiral magnetic effect, with potential experimental detection.

Contribution

This work demonstrates how strain modifies Weyl semimetals' electronic structure and induces a measurable chiral magnetic current, expanding understanding of strain effects in topological materials.

Findings

Strain shifts Weyl points in the Brillouin zone.

Induced current decays with chiral quasiparticle lifetime.

Estimated current strength is experimentally detectable.

Abstract

We argue that strain applied to a time-reversal and inversion breaking Weyl semi-metal in a magnetic field can induce an electric current via the chiral magnetic effect. A tight binding model is used to show that strain generically changes the locations in the Brillouin zone but also the energies of the band touching points (tips of the Weyl cones). Since axial charge in a Weyl semi-metal can relax via inter-valley scattering processes the induced current will decay with a timescale given by the lifetime of a chiral quasiparticle. We estimate the strength and lifetime of the current for typical material parameters and find that it should be experimentally observable.