Axial Magnetoelectric Effect in Dirac Semimetals

We propose a mechanism to generate a static magnetization via the "axial magnetoelectric effect" (AMEE). Magnetization M∼E_{5}(ω)×E_{5}^{*}(ω) appears as a result of the transfer of the angular momentum of the axial electric field E_{5}(t) into the magnetic moment in Dirac and Weyl semimetals. We point out similarities and differences between the proposed AMEE and a conventional inverse Faraday effect. As an example, we estimated the AMEE generated by circularly polarized acoustic waves and find it to be on the scale of microgauss for gigahertz frequency sound. In contrast to a conventional inverse Faraday effect, magnetization rises linearly at small frequencies and fixed sound intensity as well as demonstrates a nonmonotonic peak behavior for the AMEE. The effect provides a way to investigate unusual axial electromagnetic fields via conventional magnetometry techniques.