Anomalous Electromagnetic Field Penetration in a Weyl or Dirac Semimetal

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the chiral anomaly in Weyl or Dirac semimetals causes nonlocal electromagnetic responses, affecting wave transmission with distinctive frequency and magnetic field dependencies.

Contribution

It reveals the nonlocal electromagnetic response due to the chiral anomaly and its impact on wave transmission in Weyl or Dirac semimetals, highlighting new physical signatures.

Findings

Enhanced transmission amplitude due to nonlocal effects

Specific dependence of transmission on wave frequency

Dependence on static magnetic field strength

Abstract

The current response to an electromagnetic field in a Weyl or Dirac semimetal becomes nonlocal due to the chiral anomaly activated by an applied static magnetic field. The nonlocality develops under the conditions of the normal skin effect and is related to the valley charge imbalance generated by the joint effect of the electric field of the impinging wave and the static magnetic field. We elucidate the signatures of this nonlocality in the transmission of electromagnetic waves. The signatures include enhancement of the transmission amplitude and its specific dependence on the wave's frequency and the static magnetic field strength.