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arXiv · 1711.09646

Extreme magnetoresistance induced by Zeeman effect-driven electron-hole compensation and topological protection in MoSi$_2$

M. Matin·R. Mondal·N. Barman·A. Thamizhavel·S. K. Dhar
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Abstract

The magnetoresistance is the magnetic field induced change of electrical resistivity of a material. Recent studies have revealed extremely large magnetoresistance in several non-magnetic semimetals, which has been explained on the basis of either electron-hole compensation or the Fermi surface topology, or the combination of both. Here, we present a single crystal study on MoSi$_2$, which exhibits extremely large magnetoresistance, approaching almost 10$^7$ % at 2 K and 14 T magnetic field. It is found that the electron-hole compensation level in MoSi$_2$ evolves with magnetic field, which is resulted from strong Zeeman effect, and found beneficial in boosting the large non-saturating magnetoresistance. The non-trivial Berry phase in the de Haas-van Alphen oscillations and the moderate suppression of backward scattering of the charge carriers lend support for the topological nature of this semimetal. The ultra-large carrier mobility of the topologically protected charge carriers reinforces the magnetoresistance of MoSi2 to an unprecedented large value.

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M. Matin, R. Mondal, N. Barman, A. Thamizhavel, S. K. Dhar. 2017-11-27. Extreme magnetoresistance induced by Zeeman effect-driven electron-hole compensation and topological protection in MoSi$_2$. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.97.205130

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