Ferroelectrically controlled chirality switching of Weyl quasiparticles
Weyl quasiparticles, as gapless low-energy excitations with nontrivial chirality, have garnered extensive interest in recent years. However, archieving effective and reversible control over their chirality (topological charge) remains a major challenge due to topological protection. In this Letter, we propose a ferroelectric mechanism to switch the chirality of Weyl phonons, where the reversal of ferroelectric polarization is intrinsically coupled to a simultaneous reversal of the chirality of Weyl points. This enables electric-field-driven control over the topological properties of phonon excitations. Through a comprehensive symmetry analysis of polar space groups, we identify 27 groups capable of hosting symmetry-protected Weyl phonons with chiral charges $C=1$, 2, and 3, whose chirality can be reversed via polarization switching. The first-principles calculations are performed to screen feasible material candidates for each type of chirality, yielding a set of prototypical ferroelectric compounds that realize the proposed mechanism. As a representative example, ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{ZnBr}}_{4}$ hosts the minimal configuration of two pairs of Weyl phonons. Upon polarization reversal, the chirality of all Weyl points is inverted, accompanied by a reversal of associated topological features such as Berry curvature and surface arcs. These findings provide a viable pathway for dynamic, electrical control of topological band crossings and open different avenues for chirality-based phononic applications.
Authors
- Zeling Li
- Yu liu
- Fengyu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9483-8554)
- Botao Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4831-9283)
- Zhifeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8151-6839)
- Xiaoping Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9072-383X)
- Lei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2313-2095)
- Lei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5304-8380)
- Le Du
Institutions
- Inner Mongolia University (CN)
- Sichuan Normal University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2025-11-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/mrls-4v3d
- Primary Topic
- Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00