Band structure reconstruction in the topological semimetal PrAlSi

TL;DR

This study investigates how ferromagnetic order in PrAlSi causes a reconstruction of its topological band structure, revealing new Weyl nodes and enhanced carrier density, highlighting the interaction between magnetism and topology.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of band structure reconstruction in a ferromagnetic topological semimetal due to magnetic ordering, a novel insight in topological materials research.

Findings

Observation of a new linear segment in optical conductivity upon ferromagnetic transition.

Evidence of Weyl node splitting caused by time reversal symmetry breaking.

Significant increase in itinerant carrier density in the ferromagnetic state.

Abstract

The interplay between nontrivial topology, magnetism and strong correlation has generated considerable research interest in condensed matter physics. The topological RAlX (R = rare earth ; X = Si and Ge) family has provided an excellent platform for exploring these complex interactions. Here, we performed infrared spectroscopy measurements on the ferromagnetic (FM) topological semimetal PrAlSi, in oder to investigate the impact of FM orderings on the topological band structure. We find that the optical conductivity associated with the Dirac/Weyl cones exhibits two segments of linearly increasing parts in the normal state, connected by a kink feature at around 1 960 cm-1. By entering the FM state, however, an additional linear-growing segment shows up in between the original ones, suggesting that the band structure is reconstructed. We propose that these observations can be effectively explained by a scenario where the Dirac/Weyl nodes are split into pairs of Weyl nodes with lower degeneracy, due to the time reversal symmetry breaking induced by the FM ordering. This band structure reconstruction also leads to a sudden enhancement of the itinerant carrier density. In addition, the effective mass of the itinerant carriers are estimated to be two orders of magnitude smaller than the free electron mass, providing a rare case where nearly all the free carriers exhibit behaviors characteristic of relativistic Dirac or Weyl fermions. Our results demonstrate an compelling example of the strong interaction between magnetic order and topological band structures, which opens up new avenues for exploring novel topological materials and their potential applications.