Strain modulation of photocurrent in Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4

Abstract

We study the effect of the strain on the energy bands of TaIrTe4 sheet and the photocurrent in the Cu-TaIrTe4-Cu heterojunction by using the quantum transport simulations. It is found that the Weyl points can be completely broken with increasing of the strain along z dirction. One can obtain a large photocurrent in the Cu-TaIrTe4-Cu heterojunction in the absence of the strain. While the photocurrent can be sharply enhanced by the strain and reach a large value. Accordingly, the maximum values of the photocurrent can be explained in terms of the transitions between peaks of density of states and band structures. The strain-induced energy bands and photocurrent exhibit anisotropic behaviors. Our results provide a novel route to effectively modulate the energy bands and the photocurrent by utilizing mechanical methods for TaIrTe4-based devices.