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.

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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
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article
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article

Ferroelectrically controlled chirality switching of Weyl quasiparticles

Zeling Li, Yu liu, Fengyu Li, Botao Fu et al.
Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence
article

Ferroelectrically controlled chirality switching of Weyl quasiparticles

Zeling Li, Yu liu, Fengyu Li, Botao Fu, Zhifeng Liu, Xiaoping Li, Lei Wang, Lei Li, Le Du
article en

Abstract

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.

Physical review. B./Physical review. BVol. 112(18)
Inner Mongolia University (CN), Sichuan Normal University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 69%
Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence
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Ferroelectrically controlled chirality switching of Weyl quasiparticles — Zeling Li, Yu liu, et al. · Physical review. B./Physical review. B (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS