Magneto-Optics of the Weyl Semimetal TaAs in the THz and IR Regions

Abstract

The magnetic-field dependence of optical reflectivity [$R(\omega )$] and optical conductivity [$\sigma (\omega )$] spectra of the ideal type-I Weyl semimetal TaAs has been investigated at the temperature of 10 K in the terahertz (THz) and infrared (IR) regions. The obtained $\sigma (\omega )$ spectrum in the THz region of $\hslash \omega \le 15$ meV is strongly affected by the applied magnetic field ($B$): The Drude spectral weight is rapidly suppressed and an energy gap originating from the optical transition in the lowest Landau levels appears with a gap size that increases in proportion to $\sqrt{B}$, which suggests linear band dispersions. The obtained THz $\sigma (\omega )$ spectra could be scaled not only in the energy scale by $\sqrt{B}$ but also in the intensity by $1/\sqrt{B}$ as predicted theoretically. In the IR region for $\hslash \omega \ge 17$ meV, on the other hand, the observed $R(\omega )$ peaks originating from the optical transitions in higher Landau levels are proportional to linear-$B$ suggesting parabolic bands. The different band dispersions originate from the crossover from the Dirac to the free-electron bands.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for the publication in Proceedings of SCES 2019