Extremely large magnetoresistance and ultrahigh mobility in the topological Weyl semimetal candidate NbP
Open accessAbstract
Weyl semimetals are predicted to exhibit a host of unusual transport properties. NbP, a system predicted to share characteristics of both normal and Weyl semimetals, is now shown to have a very large, non-saturating magnetoresistance. Recent experiments have revealed spectacular transport properties in semimetals, such as the large, non-saturating magnetoresistance exhibited by WTe2 (ref. 1). Topological semimetals with massless relativistic electrons have also been predicted2 as three-dimensional analogues of graphene3. These systems are known as Weyl semimetals, and are predicted to have a range of exotic transport properties and surface states4,5,6,7, distinct from those of topological insulators8,9. Here we examine the magneto-transport properties of NbP, a material the band structure of which has been predicted to combine the hallmarks of a Weyl semimetal10,11 with those of a normal semimetal. We observe an extremely large magnetoresistance of 850,000% at 1.85 K (250% at room temperature) in a magnetic field of up to 9 T, without any signs of saturation, and an ultrahigh carrier mobility of 5 × 106 cm2 V−1 s−1 that accompanied by strong Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations. NbP therefore presents a unique example of a material combining topological and conventional electronic phases, with intriguing physical properties resulting from their interplay.
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A strong negative angular longitudinal MR has been reported for TaAs, NbAs, TaP, NbP and interpreted as this chiral magnetic effect.
“A strong negative angular longitudinal MR has been reported for TaAs, NbAs, TaP, NbP and interpreted as this chiral magnetic effect (Du et al. , 2016; Huang et al. , 2015b; Shekhar et al. , 2015; Wang et al. , 2016i; Yang et al. , 2015c; Zhang et al. , 2016a).”
From Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2018) · cites this paper as Shekhar et al. , 2015
In the NbP magnetoresistance results (Fig. 2f; page unavailable in our copy), longitudinal MR is reported as positive, at 2.5 × 10^5%, not strongly negative. The passage describes the angular variation as relatively small and does not interpret it as a chiral magnetic effect. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLow-energy electrons in topological semimetals are highly robust against crystalline disorder and imperfections due to linear dispersion and spin/pseudospin momentum locking, leading to very high electron mobilities.
“Because of linear dispersion and spin (pseudospin) momentum locking, low-energy electrons in topological semimetals are highly robust against crystalline disorder and imperfections, leading to very high electron mobilities (45,46).”
From Transport of Topological Semimetals (2019) · cites this paper as [46]
The Abstract says Weyl and Dirac semimetals usually have very high mobilities and suggests a link to their electronic dispersion. The transport discussion (section labelled “14.5 T; refs”; page unavailable) attributes NbP’s ultrahigh mobility to large Fermi velocity and low effective mass. Our copy does not attribute that mobility to spin or pseudospin momentum locking or establish robustness against crystalline disorder and imperfections. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTransverse MR in WSMs/DSMs such as Cd3As2, PtBi2, WTe2, and NbP can reach up to 0.1-1 million percent at low temperatures (0.5-5 K) and 9 T, without saturation up to 30-100 T.
“The transverse MR, measured with the field perpendicular to the current direction, can reach up to 0.1-1 million percent at low temperatures (0.5-5 K) and a field of 9 T (see Table 1), without any sign of saturation up to 30-100 T in WSMs/DSMs such as Cd 3 As 2 , PtBi 2 , WTe 2 , and NbP (46,48,171,172).”
From Transport of Topological Semimetals (2019) · cites this paper as [46]
Electron-hole compensation has been proposed as a possible mechanism for unusually large MR in topological semimetals.
“Electron-hole compensation has been proposed to be a possible mechanism (46,48,171).”
From Transport of Topological Semimetals (2019) · cites this paper as [46]
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References 41 · Cited by 1,151
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- [10]10. Weng, H., Fang, C., Fang, Z., Bernevig, B. A. & Dai, X. Weyl semimetal phase in noncentrosymmetric transition-metal monophosphides. Phys. Rev. X 5, 011029 (2015).
- [13]13. Xu, G., Weng, H., Wang, Z., Dai, X. & Fang, Z. Chern semimetal and the quantized anomalous Hall effect in HgCr 2 Se 4 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 186806 (2011).
- [14]14. Wang, Z. et al. Dirac semimetal and topological phase transitions in A 3 Bi (A = Na, K, Rb). Phys. Rev. B 85, 195320 (2012).
- [15]15. Wang, Z., Weng, H., Wu, Q., Dai, X. & Fang, Z. Three-dimensional Dirac semimetal and quantum transport in Cd 3 As 2 . Phys. Rev. B 88, 125427 (2013).
- [17]17. Narayanan, A. et al. Linear magnetoresistance caused by mobility fluctuations in n-doped Cd 3 As 2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 117201 (2015).
- [31]31. He, L. P. et al. Quantum transport evidence for the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase in Cd 3 As 2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 246402 (2014).
- [32]32. Feng, J. et al. Large linear magnetoresistance in Dirac semi-metal Cd 3 As 2 with Fermi surfaces close to the Dirac points. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.6611v1 (2014). · arXiv
- [33]33. He, L. P. et al. Quantum transport evidence for the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase in Cd 3 As 2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 246402 (2014).
- [34]34. Zhang, C. et al. Tantalum monoarsenide: An exotic compensated semimetal. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.00251 (2015). · arXiv
- Authors
- Shekhar, C., Nayak, A. K., Sun, Y., Schmidt, M., Nicklas, M., Leermakers, I., Zeitler, U., Skourski, Y., Wosnitza, J., Liu, Z., Chen, Y., Schnelle, W., Borrmann, H., Grin, Y., Felser, C., & Yan, B.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (DE)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- Diamond Light Source (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Yan, Binghai
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Physics
- Published
- 2015-06-22
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 645-649
- ISSN
- 1745-2473 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-2481
- OpenAlex
- W1935448428
- Semantic Scholar
- 01a61515611716b185b0c73f5f0b69c808062bc3
- Cited by
- 1,151
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 83 · 2022: 104 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 118 · 2019: 103 · 2018: 124 · 2017: 141 · 2016: 112 · 2015: 31
- FWCI
- 68.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Physics (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-SPP1666, SPP1666, EB 518/1-1)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (N66001-11-1-4105)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K04074X/1)
- High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (291472)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › 2D Materials and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Keywords
- Weyl semimetals, NbP, magnetoresistance, carrier mobility, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, magnetotransport, topological semimetals, non-saturating magnetoresistance
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