Abstract
Extensive studies of electron transport in Dirac materials have shown positive magnetoresistance (MR) and positive magnetothermopower (MTP) in a magnetic field perpendicular to the excitation current or thermal gradient. In contrast, measurements of electron transport often show a negative longitudinal MR and negative MTP for a magnetic field oriented along the excitation current or thermal gradient; this is attributed to the chiral anomaly in Dirac materials. Here, we report a very different magnetothermoelectric transport behavior in the massive Dirac material ZrTe5. Although thin flakes show a commonly observed positive MR in a perpendicular magnetic field, distinct from other Dirac materials, we observe a sharp negative MTP. In a parallel magnetic field, we still observe a negative longitudinal MR, however, a remarkable positive MTP is observed for the fields parallel to the thermal gradients. Our theoretical calculations suggest that this anomalous magnetothermoelectric behavior can be attributed to the screened Coulomb scattering. This work demonstrates the significance of impurity scattering in the electron transport of topological materials and provides deep insight into the magnetotransport phenomena in Dirac materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 085140 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 15 2023 |
Funding
We thank X. Qiang and C. Xi for helpful discussions. J.W. acknowledges the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0305604), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. Z180010), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11888101), the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (Grant No. 2021ZD0302400), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB28000000). X.W. acknowledges the support from the National Key Basic Research R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFA0308800) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 11774009 and No. 12074009). H.L. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11925402), Guangdong province (Grants No. 2016ZT06D348 and No. 2020KCXTD001), Shenzhen High-level Special Fund (Grants No. G02206304 and G02206404), and the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (Grants No. ZDSYS20170303165926217, No. JCYJ20170412152620376, and No. KYTDPT20181011104202253), and Center for Computational Science and Engineering of SUSTech. H.W. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 21BAA01133, No. 12004441, and No. 92165204), the Hundreds of Talents program of Sun Yat-sen University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 202lqntd27). C.W. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11974249) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Grant No. 19ZR1437300). J.Y. and D.M. acknowledge the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. J.D. acknowledges the support from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices (GDSTC No. 2019B121205001).