Chiral magnetoresistance in the Weyl semimetal NbP

Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 6:7:43394. doi: 10.1038/srep43394.

Abstract

NbP is a recently realized Weyl semimetal (WSM), hosting Weyl points through which conduction and valence bands cross linearly in the bulk and exotic Fermi arcs appear. The most intriguing transport phenomenon of a WSM is the chiral anomaly-induced negative magnetoresistance (NMR) in parallel electric and magnetic fields. In intrinsic NbP the Weyl points lie far from the Fermi energy, making chiral magneto-transport elusive. Here, we use Ga-doping to relocate the Fermi energy in NbP sufficiently close to the W2 Weyl points, for which the different Fermi surfaces are verified by resultant quantum oscillations. Consequently, we observe a NMR for parallel electric and magnetic fields, which is considered as a signature of the chiral anomaly in condensed-matter physics. The NMR survives up to room temperature, making NbP a versatile material platform for the development of Weyltronic applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't