Manipulating Weyl quasiparticles by orbital-selective photoexcitation in WTe2

Optical control of structural and electronic properties of Weyl semimetals allows development of switchable and dissipationless topological devices at the ultrafast scale. An unexpected orbitial-selective photoexcitation in type-II Weyl material WTe2 is reported under linearly polarized light (LPL), inducing striking transitions among several topologically-distinct phases. The symmetry features of atomic orbitals comprising the Weyl bands result in asymmetric electronic transitions near the Weyl points, and in turn an anisotropic response of interlayer shear motion with respect to linear light polarization, when a near-infrared laser pulse is applied. Consequently, not only annihilation of Weyl quasiparticle pairs, but also increasing separation of Weyl points can be achieved, complementing existing experimental observations. Our results provide a new perspective on manipulating the singularity of Weyl nodes and coherent control of electron and lattice quantum dynamics simultaneously.