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Topological semimetals

Nature Materials volume 15, pages 1145–1148 (2016)Cite this article

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Topological semimetals and metals have emerged as a new frontier in the field of quantum materials. Novel macroscopic quantum phenomena they exhibit are not only of fundamental interest, but may hold some potential for technological applications.

The study of the electronic structure topology of crystalline materials has emerged in the past decade as a major new theme in modern condensed-matter physics. The starting impetus came from the remarkable discovery of topological insulators1,2, but the focus has recently shifted towards topological semimetals and even metals. Although the idea that metals can have a topologically nontrivial electronic structure is not entirely new and some of the recent developments were anticipated in earlier work3,4,5, this shift was precipitated by the theoretical discovery of Weyl6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and later Dirac semimetals13,14,15. The experimental realization of both Weyl and Dirac semimetals16,17,18,19,20 within the past couple of years has brought the field to the forefront of quantum condensed-matter research.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Type-I and type-II Weyl nodes.
Figure 3: Origin of the chiral anomaly.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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  1. A. A. Burkov is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada, and at ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia

    A. A. Burkov

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Correspondence to A. A. Burkov.

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Burkov, A. Topological semimetals. Nature Mater 15, 1145–1148 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4788

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