Electronic Transport on the Shastry-Sutherland Lattice in Ising-type Rare Earth Tetraborides

In the presence of a magnetic field frustrated spin systems may exhibit plateaus at fractional values of saturation magnetization. Such plateau states are stabilized by classical and quantum mechanisms including order-by-disorder, triplon crystallization, and various competing order effects. In the case of electrically conducting systems, free electrons represent an incisive probe for the plateau states. Here we study the electrical transport of Ising-type rare earth tetraborides $R$B$_4$ ($R=$Er, Tm), a metallic Shastry-Sutherland lattice showing magnetization plateaus. We find that the longitudinal and transverse resistivities reflect scattering with both the static and dynamic plateau structure. We model these results consistently with the expected strong uniaxial anisotropy in a quantitative level, providing a framework for the study of plateau states in metallic frustrated systems.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

The zero-energy state in graphene in a high magnetic field

The fate of the charge-neutral Dirac point in graphene in a high magnetic field $H$ has been investigated at low temperatures ($T\sim$ 0.3 K). In samples with small $V_0$ (the gate voltage needed to access the Dirac point), the resistance $R_0$ at the Dirac point diverges steeply with $H$, signalling a crossover to an insulating state in intense field. The approach to the insulating state is highly unusual. Despite the steep divergence in $R_0$, the profile of $R_0$ vs. $T$ in fixed $H$ saturates to a $T$-independent value below 2 K, consistent with charge carrying gapless excitations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Four new sub-figures have been added. Text expanded to discuss data from more sample

Transport Signatures of Fermi Surface Topology Change in BiTeI

We report a quantum magnetotransport signature of a change in Fermi surface topology in the Rashba semiconductor BiTeI with systematic tuning of the Fermi level $E_F$. Beyond the quantum limit, we observe a marked increase/decrease in electrical resistivity when $E_F$ is above/below the Dirac node that we show originates from the Fermi surface topology. This effect represents a measurement of the electron distribution on the low-index ($n=0,-1$) Landau levels and is uniquely enabled by the finite bulk $k_z$ dispersion along the $c$-axis and strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling strength of the system. The Dirac node is independently identified by Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations as a vanishing Fermi surface cross section at $k_z=0$. Additionally we find that the violation of Kohler's rule allows a distinct insight into the temperature evolution of the observed quantum magnetoresistance effects.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Extreme Magnetoresistance in Magnetic Rare Earth Monopnictides

The acute sensitivity of the electrical resistance of certain systems to magnetic fields known as extreme magnetoresistance (XMR) has recently been explored in a new materials context with topological semimetals. Exemplified by WTe$_{2}$ and rare earth monopnictide La(Sb,Bi), these systems tend to be non-magnetic, nearly compensated semimetals and represent a platform for large magnetoresistance driven by intrinsic electronic structure. Here we explore electronic transport in magnetic members of the latter family of semimetals and find that XMR is strongly modulated by magnetic order. In particular, CeSb exhibits XMR in excess of $1.6 \times 10^{6}$ % at fields of 9 T while the magnetoresistance itself is non-monotonic across the various magnetic phases and shows a transition from negative magnetoresistance to XMR with field above magnetic ordering temperature $T_{N}$. The magnitude of the XMR is larger than in other rare earth monopnictides including the non-magnetic members and follows an non-saturating power law to fields above 30 T. We show that the overall response can be understood as the modulation of conductivity by the Ce orbital state and for intermediate temperatures can be characterized by an effective medium model. Comparison to the orbitally quenched compound GdBi supports the correlation of XMR with the onset of magnetic ordering and compensation and highlights the unique combination of orbital inversion and type-I magnetic ordering in CeSb in determining its large response. These findings suggest a paradigm for magneto-orbital control of XMR and are relevant to the understanding of rare earth-based correlated topological materials.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

The thermopower and Nernst Effect in graphene in a magnetic field

We report measurements of the thermopower $S$ and Nernst signal $S_{yx}$ in graphene in a magnetic field $H$. Both quantities show strong quantum oscillations vs. the gate voltage $V_g$. Our measurements for Landau Levels of index $n\ne 0$ are in quantitative agreement with the edge-current model of Girvin and Jonson (GJ). The inferred off-diagonal thermoelectric conductivity $\alpha_{yx}$ comes close to the quantum of Amps per Kelvin. At the Dirac point ($n=0$), however, the width of the peak in $\alpha_{yx}$ is very narrow. We discuss features of the thermoelectric response at the Dirac point including the enhanced Nernst signal.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. In new version, the sign of the Nernst signal is corrected. Text revised and expanded. 2 Figures amended. One new panel adde

Band engineering of a magnetic thin film rare earth monopnictide

Realizing quantum materials in few atomic layer morphologies is a key to both observing and controlling a wide variety of exotic quantum phenomena. This includes topological electronic materials, where the tunability and dimensionality of few layer materials have enabled the detection of $Z_2$, Chern, and Majorana phases. Here, we report the development of a platform for thin film correlated, topological states in the magnetic rare-earth monopnictide ($RX$) system GdBi synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy. This material is known from bulk single crystal studies to be semimetallic antiferromagnets with Neel temperature $T_N =$ 28 K and is the magnetic analog of the non-$f$-electron containing system LaBi proposed to have topological surface states. Our transport and magnetization studies of thin films grown epitaxially on BaF$_2$ reveal that semimetallicity is lifted below approximately 8 crystallographic unit cells while magnetic order is maintained down to our minimum thickness of 5 crystallographic unit cells. First-principles calculations show that the non-trivial topology is preserved down to the monolayer limit, where quantum confinement and the lattice symmetry give rise to a $C=2$ Chern insulator phase. We further demonstrate the stabilization of these films against atmospheric degradation using a combination of air-free buffer and capping procedures. These results together identify thin film $RX$ materials as potential platforms for engineering topological electronic bands in correlated magnetic materials

Creating Weyl nodes and controlling their energy by magnetization rotation

As they do not rely on the presence of any crystal symmetry, Weyl nodes are robust topological features of an electronic structure that can occur at any momentum and energy. Acting as sinks and sources of Berry curvature, Weyl nodes have been predicted to strongly affect the transverse electronic response, like in the anomalous Hall or Nernst effects. However, to observe large anomalous effects the Weyl nodes need to be close to or at the Fermi-level, which implies the band structure must be tuned by an external parameter, e.g. chemical doping or pressure. Here we show that in a ferromagnetic metal tuning of the Weyl node energy and momentum can be achieved by rotation of the magnetization. Taking Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$ as an example, we use electronic structure calculations based on density-functional theory to show that not only new Weyl fermions can be created by canting the magnetization away from the easy axis, but also that the Weyl nodes can be driven exactly to the Fermi surface. We also show that the dynamics in energy and momentum of the Weyl nodes strongly affect the calculated anomalous Hall and Nernst conductivities.Comment: Supp. Material adde