Weyl semimetal and superconductor designed in an orbital-selective superlattice

Abstract

We propose two complementary design principles for engineering three-dimensional (3D) Weyl semimetals and superconductors in a layer-by-layer setup which includes even- and odd-parity orbitals in alternating layers—dubbed an orbital selective superlattice. Such a structure breaks mirror symmetry along the superlattice growth axis which, with the help of either a basal plane spin-orbit coupling or spinless p+ip superconductivity, stabilizes a 3D Dirac node. To explore this idea, we develop a 3D generalization of the Haldane model and a Bogoliubov–de Gennes Hamiltonian for the two cases, respectively, and show that tunable single or multiple Weyl nodes with linear dispersion in all spatial directions can be engineered desirably in a widespread parameter space. We also demonstrate that a single helical Weyl band can be created at the Γ point at the Fermi level in the superconducting case via gapping out either of the orbital states by violating its particle-hole symmetry but not any other symmetries. Finally, implications of our results for the realization of an anomalous Hall effect and Majorana bound state are discussed.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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