Physics

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Fermi surface

Weyl semimetal

Quasiparticle

Semimetal

Band gap

Magnetism

Condensed matter physics

Spin (aerodynamics)

Fermion

Superconductivity

Quantum mechanics

Quantum oscillations

Thermodynamics

Nature Materials

Emergent relativistic quasiparticles in Weyl semimetals are the source of exotic electronic properties such as surface Fermi arcs, the anomalous Hall effect and negative magnetoresistance, all observed in real materials. Whereas these phenomena highlight the effect of Weyl fermions on the electronic transport properties, less is known about what collective phenomena they may support. Here, we report a Weyl semimetal, NdAlSi, that offers an example. Using neutron diffraction, we found a long-wavelength helical magnetic order in NdAlSi, the periodicity of which is linked to the nesting vector between two topologically non-trivial Fermi pockets, which we characterize using density functional theory and quantum oscillation measurements. We further show the chiral transverse component of the spin structure is promoted by bond-oriented Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions associated with Weyl exchange processes. Our work provides a rare example of Weyl fermions driving collective magnetism. The Weyl fermions in NdAlSi mediate a helical incommensurate spin density wave, providing a rare example of Weyl-mediated collective phenomena.

Weyl-mediated helical magnetism in NdAlSi