Helicity protected ultrahigh mobility Weyl fermions in NbP

Abstract

Non-centrosymmetric transition metal monopnictides, including TaAs, TaP, NbAs, and NbP, are emergent topological Weyl semimetals (WSMs) hosting exotic relativistic Weyl fermions. In this letter, we elucidate the physical origin of the unprecedented charge carrier mobility of NbP, which can reach $1\times 10^7$ cm ${}^2$V${}^{-1}$s${}^{-1}$ at 1.5 K. Angle- and temperature-dependent quantum oscillations, supported by density function theory calculations, reveal that NbP has the coexistence of p- and n-type WSM pockets in the $k_z$=1.16$\pi$/c plane (W1-WSM) and in the $k_z$=0 plane near the high symmetry points $\Sigma$ (W2-WSM), respectively. Uniquely, each W2-WSM pocket forms a large dumbbell-shaped Fermi surface (FS) enclosing two neighboring Weyl nodes with the opposite chirality. The magneto-transport in NbP is dominated by these highly anisotropic W2-WSM pockets, in which Weyl fermions are well protected from defect backscattering by real spin conservation associated to the chiral nodes. However, with a minimal doping of $\sim$1\% Cr, the mobility of NbP is degraded by more than two order of magnitude, due to the invalid of helicity protection to magnetic impurities. Helicity protected Weyl fermion transport is also manifested in chiral anomaly induced negative magnetoresistance, controlled by the W1-WSM states. In the quantum regime below 10 K, the intervalley scattering time by impurities becomes a large constant, producing the sharp and nearly identical conductivity enhancement at low magnetic field.

5 pages, 4 figures; submitted on June 2, 2015; Accepted by PRB Rapid Communications

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