Magnetic-Field-Induced Relativistic Properties in Type-I and Type-II Weyl Semimetals

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Aug 19;117(8):086402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.086402. Epub 2016 Aug 16.

Abstract

We investigate Weyl semimetals with tilted conical bands in a magnetic field. Even when the cones are overtilted (type-II Weyl semimetal), Landau-level quantization can be possible as long as the magnetic field is oriented close to the tilt direction. Most saliently, the tilt can be described within the relativistic framework of Lorentz transformations that give rise to a rich spectrum, displaying new transitions beyond the usual dipolar ones in the optical conductivity. We identify particular features in the latter that allow one to distinguish between semimetals of different types.