Reentrant metallic behavior in the Weyl semimetal NbP

Journal Article · Fri Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.115152· OSTI ID:1405299

Xu, J. ^[1]; Bugaris, D. E. ^[2]; Xiao, Z. L. ^[1]; Wang, Y. L. ^[3]; Chung, D. Y. ^[2]; Kanatzidis, M. G. ^[4]; Kwok, W. K. ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb, IL (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States);
3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States);; Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (United States)
4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States);; Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

Here, we report the occurrence of reentrant metallic behavior in the Weyl semimetal NbP. When the applied magnetic field H is above a critical value H_c, a reentrance appears as a peak in the temperature-dependent resistivity ρ_xx(T) at T=T_p, similar to that observed in graphite where it was attributed to local superconductivity. The Tp(H) relationship follows a power-law dependence T_p~(H–H_c)^1/ν where ν can be derived from the temperature dependence of the zero-field resistivity ρ₀(T)~T^ν. From concurrent measurements of the transverse ρ_xx(T) and Hall ρ_xy(T) magnetoresistivities, we reveal a clear correlation between the rapidly increasing ρ_xy(T) and the occurrence of a peak in the ρ_xx(T) curve. Quantitative analysis indicates that the reentrant metallic behavior arises from the competition of the magnetoconductivity σ_xx(T) with an additional component Δσ_xx(T)=κHσ_xx(T) where κ_H=[ρ_xy(T)/ρ_xx(T)]² is the Hall factor. We find that the Hall factor (κ_H≈0.4) at peak temperature T_p is nearly field independent, leading to the observed T_p(H) relationship. Furthermore, the reentrant metallic behavior in ρ_xx(T) also is reflected in the behavior of ρ_xx(H) that ranges from nonsaturating at T > 70K to saturation at liquid-helium temperatures. The latter can be explained with the magnetic field dependence of the Hall factor κ_H(H). Lastly, our paper demonstrates that a semiclassical theory can account for the “anomalies” in the magnetotransport phenomena of NbP without invoking an exotic mechanism.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1405299
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1394700
• Journal Information: Physical Review B, Vol. 96, Issue 11; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE