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Spatiotemporal determination of photoinduced strain in a Weyl semimetal

Authors :
Jianyu Wu
Amit Kumar Prasad
Alexander Balatsky
Jonas Weissenrieder
Source :
Structural Dynamics, Vol 11, Iss 5, Pp 054301-054301-7 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
AIP Publishing LLC and ACA, 2024.

Abstract

The application of dynamic strain holds the potential to manipulate topological invariants in topological quantum materials. This study investigates dynamic structural deformation and strain modulation in the Weyl semimetal WTe2, focusing on the microscopic regions with static strain defects. The interplay of static strain fields, at local line defects, with dynamic strain induced from photo-excited coherent acoustic phonons results in the formation of local standing waves at the defect sites. The dynamic structural distortion is precisely determined utilizing ultrafast electron microscopy with nanometer spatial and gigahertz temporal resolutions. Numerical simulations are employed to interpret the experimental results and explain the mechanism for how the local strain fields are transiently modulated through light–matter interaction. This research provides the experimental foundation for investigating predicted phenomena such as the mixed axial-torsional anomaly, acoustogalvanic effect, and axial magnetoelectric effects in Weyl semimetals, and paves the road to manipulate quantum invariants through transient strain fields in quantum materials.

Subjects

Subjects :
Crystallography
QD901-999

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
23297778
Volume :
11
Issue :
5
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Structural Dynamics
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.33f0b5195a824c52a211b8e3ec66e4ce
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1063/4.0000263