Origin of the quasi-quantized Hall effect in ZrTe5
Journal article, 2021

The quantum Hall effect (QHE) is traditionally considered to be a purely two-dimensional (2D) phenomenon. Recently, however, a three-dimensional (3D) version of the QHE was reported in the Dirac semimetal ZrTe . It was proposed to arise from a magnetic-field-driven Fermi surface instability, transforming the original 3D electron system into a stack of 2D sheets. Here, we report thermodynamic, spectroscopic, thermoelectric and charge transport measurements on such ZrTe samples. The measured properties: magnetization, ultrasound propagation, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, show no signatures of a Fermi surface instability, consistent with in-field single crystal X-ray diffraction. Instead, a direct comparison of the experimental data with linear response calculations based on an effective 3D Dirac Hamiltonian suggests that the quasi-quantization of the observed Hall response emerges from the interplay of the intrinsic properties of the ZrTe electronic structure and its Dirac-type semi-metallic character.

Author

S. Galeski

Max Planck Society

T. Ehmcke

Technische Universität Dresden

R. Wawrzyńczak

Max Planck Society

P. M. Lozano

Brookhaven National Laboratory

K. Cho

Max Planck Society

A. Sharma

Max Planck Society

S. Das

Max Planck Society

F. Küster

Max Planck Society

P. Sessi

Max Planck Society

M. Brando

Max Planck Society

R. Küchler

Max Planck Society

A. Markou

Max Planck Society

M. König

Max Planck Society

P. Swekis

Max Planck Society

C. Felser

Max Planck Society

Yasmine Sassa

Chalmers, Physics, Materials Physics

Q. Li

Brookhaven National Laboratory

G. Gu

Brookhaven National Laboratory

M. V. Zimmermann

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

O. Ivashko

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

D. I. Gorbunov

Helmholtz

S. Zherlitsyn

Helmholtz

T. Förster

Helmholtz

S. S.P. Parkin

Max Planck Society

J. Wosnitza

Helmholtz

Technische Universität Dresden

T. Meng

Technische Universität Dresden

J. Gooth

Max Planck Society

Technische Universität Dresden

Nature Communications

2041-1723 (ISSN) 20411723 (eISSN)

Vol. 12 1 3197

Subject Categories

Inorganic Chemistry

Materials Chemistry

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-23435-y

PubMed

34045452

More information

Latest update

6/14/2021