Anisotropic phonon-mediated electronic transport in chiral Weyl semimetals

Abstract

Discovery and observations of exotic, quantized optical and electrical responses have sparked renewed interest in nonmagnetic chiral crystals. Within this class of materials, six group V transition metal ditetrelides, that is, XY${}_2$ (X = V, Nb, Ta and Y = Si, Ge), host composite Weyl nodes on high-symmetry lines, with Kramers-Weyl fermions at time-reversal invariant momenta. In addition, at least two of these materials, NbGe${}_2$ and NbSi${}_2$, exhibit superconducting transitions at low temperatures. The interplay of strong electron-phonon interaction and complex Fermi surface topology present an opportunity to study both superconductivity and hydrodynamic electron transport in these systems. Towards this broader question, we present an ab initio theoretical study of the electronic transport and electron-phonon scattering in this family of materials, with a particular focus on NbGe${}_2$ vs. NbSi${}_2$, and the other group V ditetrelides. We shed light on the microscopic origin of NbGe${}_2$'s large and anisotropic room temperature resistivity and contextualize its strong electron-phonon scattering with a presentation of other relevant scattering lifetimes, both momentum-relaxing and momentum-conserving. Our work explores the intriguing possibility of observing hydrodynamic electron transport in these chiral Weyl semimetals.

arXiv comment13 pages, 9 figures including Supplementary Information

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Long-range current-induced spin accumulation in chiral crystals
• Evidence of a coupled electron-phonon liquid in NbGe${}_2$
• Phonon-limited Transport and Fermi Arc Lifetime in Weyl Semimetals
• Collinear Rashba-Edelstein effect in non-magnetic chiral materials
• Direct observation of discommensurate charge density wave modulation in the quasi-1D Weyl semimetal candidate NbTe${}_4$
• Finite-size effects of electron transport in PdCoO${}_2$
• Phonon-mediated Hydrodynamic Transport in a Weyl Semimetal
• Phonon Weyl points and chiral edge modes with unconventional Fermi arcs in NbSi${}_2$