Low-Frequency Divergence of Circular Photomagnetic Effect in Topological Semimetals

Abstract: Novel fermions with relativistic linear dispersion can emerge as low-energy excitations in topological semimetal materials. Here, we show that the orbital moment contribution in the circular photomagnetic effect for these topological semimetals exhibit an unconventional $\omega^{-1}$ frequency scaling, leading to significantly enhanced response in the low frequency window, which can be orders of magnitude larger than previous observations on conventional materials. Furthermore, the response tensor is directly connected to the Chern numbers of the emergent fermions, manifesting their topological character. Our work reveals a new signature of topological semimetals and suggests them as promising platforms for optoelectronics and spintronics applications.