Abstract
We report a study on the magnetotransport properties and on the Fermi surfaces (FS) of ZrSi(Se,Te) semimetals. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, in absence of spin orbit coupling (SOC), reveal that both the Se and the Te compounds display Dirac nodal lines (DNL) close to the Fermi level at symmorphic and nonsymmorphic positions, respectively. We find that the geometry of their FSs agrees well with DFT predictions. ZrSiSe displays low residual resistivities, pronounced magnetoresistivity, high carrier mobilities, and a butterflylike angle-dependent magnetoresistivity (AMR), although its DNL is not protected against gap opening. As in , its transport lifetime is found to be to times larger than its quantum one. ZrSiTe, which possesses a protected DNL, displays conventional transport properties. Our evaluation indicates that both compounds most likely are topologically trivial. Nearly angle-independent effective masses with strong angle-dependent quantum lifetimes lead to the butterfly AMR in ZrSiSe
2 More- Received 14 August 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.125112
©2019 American Physical Society