0−π transitions in a Josephson junction of an irradiated Weyl semimetal

Abstract

We propose a setup for the experimental realization of anisotropic 0−π transitions of the Josephson current, in a junction whose link is made of irradiated Weyl Semimetal (WSM), due to the presence of chiral nodes. The Josephson current through a time-reversal symmetric WSM has anisotropic (with respect to the orientation of the chiral nodes) periodic oscillations as a function of k₀L, where k₀ is the (relevant) separation of the chiral nodes and L is the length of the sample. We then show that the effective value of k₀ can be tuned with precision by irradiating the sample with linearly polarized light, which does not break time-reversal invariance, resulting in 0−π transitions of the critical current. We also discuss the feasibility and robustness of our setup.