Localization Effects on Magnetotransport of a Disordered Weyl Semimetal

E. Khalaf and P. M. Ostrovsky
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 106601 – Published 8 September 2017
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Abstract

We study longitudinal magnetotransport in a disordered Weyl semimetal taking into account localization effects in the vicinity of a Weyl node exactly. In a magnetic field, a single chiral Landau level coexists with a number of conventional nonchiral levels. Disorder scattering mixes these topologically different modes leading to very strong localization effects. We derive the average conductance as well as the full distribution function of transmission probabilities along the field direction. Remarkably, we find that localization of the nonchiral modes is greatly enhanced in a strong magnetic field with the typical localization length scaling as 1/B. Technically, we use the nonlinear sigma-model formalism with a topological term describing the chiral states. The problem is solved exactly by mapping to an equivalent transfer matrix Hamiltonian.

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  • Received 10 December 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.106601

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

E. Khalaf1 and P. M. Ostrovsky1,2

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
  • 2L. D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 10 — 8 September 2017

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