Equilibrium current in a Weyl semimetal–superconductor heterostructure

Abstract

A heterostructure consisting of a magnetic Weyl semimetal and a conventional superconductor exhibits an equilibrium current parallel to the superconductor interface and perpendicular to the magnetization. Analyzing a minimal model, which as a function of parameters may be in a trivial magnetic insulator phase, a Weyl semimetal phase, or a three-dimensional weak Chern insulator phase, we find that the equilibrium current is sensitive to the presence of surface states, such as the topological Fermi-arc states of the Weyl semimetal or the chiral surface states of the weak Chern insulator. While there is a nonzero equilibrium current in all three phases, the appearance of the surface states in the topological regime leads to a reversal of the direction of the current, compared to the current direction for the trivial magnetic insulator phase. We discuss the interpretation of the surface-state contribution to the equilibrium current as a real-space realization of the superconductivity-enabled equilibrium chiral magnetic effect of a single chirality, predicted to occur in bulk Weyl superconductors.