Pseudomagnetic helicons

TL;DR

This paper predicts and analyzes pseudomagnetic helicons in strained Dirac and Weyl materials, showing they can exist without magnetic fields and are influenced by various electronic parameters, with potential for experimental detection.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of pseudomagnetic helicons in Weyl materials and explores their properties using chiral kinetic theory, including effects of multiple Weyl node pairs.

Findings

Pseudomagnetic helicons can exist without magnetic fields in strained Weyl materials.

Helicon dispersion relations depend on chemical potentials, chiral shift, and Weyl node separation.

A simple experimental setup for detecting pseudomagnetic helicons is proposed.

Abstract

The existence of pseudomagnetic helicons is predicted for strained Dirac and Weyl materials. The corresponding collective modes are reminiscent of the usual helicons in metals in strong magnetic fields but can exist even without a magnetic field due to a strain-induced background pseudomagnetic field. The properties of both pseudomagnetic and magnetic helicons are investigated in Weyl matter using the formalism of the consistent chiral kinetic theory. It is argued that the helicon dispersion relations are affected by the electric and chiral chemical potentials, the chiral shift, and the energy separation between the Weyl nodes. The effects of multiple pairs of Weyl nodes are also discussed. A simple setup for experimental detection of pseudomagnetic helicons is proposed.