Non-equilibrium transport in the pseudospin-1 Dirac-Weyl system

TL;DR

This paper investigates how flat bands in pseudospin-1 Dirac-Weyl systems influence non-equilibrium electrical transport, revealing enhanced current responses compared to pseudospin-1/2 systems in both weak and strong electric fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates the distinct roles of flat bands in non-equilibrium transport, quantifying their impact on current scaling in pseudospin-1 systems versus pseudospin-1/2 systems.

Findings

Interband current is twice larger in weak fields due to flat band effects.

Intraband current is √2 times larger in strong fields because of flat band contributions.

Current-field scaling follows Landau-Zener tunneling laws.

Abstract

Solid state materials hosting pseudospin-1 quasiparticles have attracted a great deal of recent attention. In these materials, the energy band contains of a pair of Dirac cones and a flat band through the connecting point of the cones. As the "caging" of carriers with a zero group velocity, the flat band itself has zero conductivity. However, in a non-equilibrium situation where a constant electric field is suddenly switched on, the flat band can enhance the resulting current in both the linear and nonlinear response regimes through distinct physical mechanisms. Using the ($2+1$) dimensional pseudospin-$1$ Dirac-Weyl system as a concrete setting, we demonstrate that, in the weak field regime, the interband current is about twice larger than that for pseudospin-1/2 system due to the interplay between the flat band and the negative band, with the scaling behavior determined by the Kubo formula. In the strong field regime, the intraband current is $\sqrt{2}$ times larger than that in the pseudospin-1/2 system, due to the additional contribution from particles residing in the flat band. In this case, the current and field follows the scaling law associated with Landau-Zener tunneling. These results provide a better understanding of the role of the flat band in non-equilibrium transport and are experimentally testable using electronic or photonic systems.