Anisotropic magnetotransport and exotic longitudinal linear magnetoresistance in WTe₂ crystals

The WTe₂ semimetal, as a typical layered transition-metal dichalcogenide, has recently attracted much attention due to an extremely large, nonsaturating parabolic magnetoresistance in the perpendicular field. Here, we report a systematic study of the angular dependence of the magnetoresistance in a WTe₂ single crystal. The significant anisotropic magnetotransport behavior in different magnetic field directions and violation of the Kohler's rule are observed. Unexpectedly, when the applied field and excitation current are both parallel to the tungsten chains of WTe₂, an exotic large longitudinal linear magnetoresistance as high as 1200% at 15T and 2K is identified. Our results imply that the WTe₂ semimetal, due to its balanced hole and electron populations, seems to be the first material for which a large longitudinal linear magnetoresistance appears when the external magnetic field is parallel to the applied current. Our work may stimulate studies of double-carrier correlated materials and the corresponding quantum physics.