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A magnetic topological semimetal Sr1−yMn1−zSb2 (y, z < 0.1)

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 905–910 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Weyl (WSMs) evolve from Dirac semimetals in the presence of broken time-reversal symmetry (TRS) or space-inversion symmetry. The WSM phases in TaAs-class materials and photonic crystals are due to the loss of space-inversion symmetry. For TRS-breaking WSMs, despite numerous theoretical and experimental efforts, few examples have been reported. In this Article, we report a new type of magnetic semimetal Sr1−yMn1−zSb2 (y, z < 0.1) with nearly massless relativistic fermion behaviour (m∗ = 0.04 − 0.05m0, where m0 is the free-electron mass). This material exhibits a ferromagnetic order for 304 K < T < 565 K, but a canted antiferromagnetic order with a ferromagnetic component for T < 304 K. The combination of relativistic fermion behaviour and ferromagnetism in Sr1−yMn1−zSb2 offers a rare opportunity to investigate the interplay between relativistic fermions and spontaneous TRS breaking.

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Figure 1: Quantum oscillations in Sr1−yMn1−zSb2.
Figure 2: Non-trivial Berry phase of realistic fermions in Sr1−yMn1−zSb2.
Figure 3: Coupling between magnetism and quantum transport properties in Sr1−yMn1−zSb2.
Figure 4: Magnetism of Sr1−yMn1−zSb2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank C. Wu at UCSD for helpful discussions. The work at Tulane University was supported by the NSF under Grant DMR-1205469 (support for personnel and materials) and Louisiana Board of Regents under grant LEQSF(2014-15)-ENH-TR-24 (support for equipment purchase). The neutron scattering work used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and is supported by the US Department of Energy under EPSCoR Grant No. DE-SC0012432 with additional support from the Louisiana Board of Regents. The work at UNO is supported by the NSF under the NSF EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement No. EPS-1003897 with additional support from the Louisiana Board of Regents. The work at FSU and at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the NSF grant No. DMR-1206267, the NSF Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1157490, and the State of Florida. Work at LANL was supported by the US DOE Basic Energy Science project ‘Science at 100 Tesla’. The authors also acknowledge support from grant DOE DE-NA0001979.

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Author notes

  1. J. Y. Liu, J. Hu and Q. Zhang: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70018, USA

    J. Y. Liu, J. Hu, Y. L. Zhu, G. F. Cheng, X. Liu, J. Wei & Z. Q. Mao

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803, USA

    Q. Zhang, W. A. Phelan & J. F. DiTusa

  3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

    Q. Zhang, H. B. Cao & D. A. Tennant

  4. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310, USA

    D. Graf & I. Chiorescu

  5. Department of Physics and Advanced Materials Research Institute, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70148, USA

    S. M. A. Radmanesh, D. J. Adams & L. Spinu

  6. Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China

    G. F. Cheng

  7. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA

    M. Jaime & F. Balakirev

  8. Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA

    I. Chiorescu

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Contributions

J.Y.L., J.H. and Q.Z. equally contributed to this work. The single crystals used in this study were synthesized by J.Y.L. The magnetotransport measurements in 14 T PPMS were carried out by J.Y.L., D.J.A., Z.Q.M. and L.S. The high-field measurements at NHMFL were conducted by J.H., D.G., S.M.A.R., I.C., L.S. and Z.Q.M., G.F.C., X.L., J.W. and W.A.P. contributed to X-ray structure characterization and crystal quality examination. J.H., J.Y.L. and Y.L.Z. performed magnetization measurements. Q.Z., H.B.C., J.F.D. and D.A.T. conducted neutron scattering experiments and analyses. M.J. and F.B. did pulse magnetic field measurements. J.Y.L., J.H., Y.L.Z. and Z.Q.M. conducted transport data analyses. All authors contributed to scientific discussions and read and commented on the manuscript. This project was supervised by Z.Q.M.

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Correspondence to Z. Q. Mao.

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Liu, J., Hu, J., Zhang, Q. et al. A magnetic topological semimetal Sr1−yMn1−zSb2 (y, z < 0.1). Nature Mater 16, 905–910 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4953

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