Quantum Hall effects in a Weyl Semi-Metal: possible application in pyrochlore Iridates

Abstract

There have been lots of interest in pyrochlore Iridates A2Ir2O7 where both strong spin-orbital coupling and strong correlation are present. A recent LDA calculation suggests that the system is likely in a novel three dimensional topological semi-metallic phase: a Weyl semi-metal. Such a system has zero carrier density and arrives at the quantum limit even in a weak magnetic field. In this paper we discuss two novel quantum effects of this system in a magnetic field: a pressure-induced anomalous Hall effect and a magnetic field induced charge density wave at the pinned wavevector connecting Weyl nodes with opposite chiralities. A general formula of the anomalous hall coefficients in a Weyl semi-metal is also given. Both proposed effects can be probed by experiments in the near future, and can be used to detect the Weyl semi-metal phase.