Magnetic Impurities in Dirac and Weyl Semimetals

Abstract: We theoretically study the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between magnetic impurities in both Dirac and Weyl Semimetals (SMs). We find that the internode process, as well as the unique three dimensional spin-momentum locking, has significant influences on the RKKY interaction, resulting in both a Heisenberg and an Ising term, and an additional Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya term if the inversion symmetry is absent. These interactions can lead to rich spin textures and possibly ferromagnetism in Dirac and time reversal symmetry-invariant Weyl SMs. The effect of anisotropic Dirac and Weyl nodes on the RKKY interaction is also discussed. Our results provide a general scheme to engineer topological SMs and shed new light on the application of Dirac and Weyl SMs in spintronics.