Emptying Dirac valleys in bismuth using high magnetic fields

Nature Communications
Zengwei ZhuKamran Behnia

Abstract

The Fermi surface of elemental bismuth consists of three small rotationally equivalent electron pockets, offering a valley degree of freedom to charge carriers. A relatively small magnetic field can confine electrons to their lowest Landau level. This is the quantum limit attained in other dilute metals upon application of sufficiently strong magnetic field. Here we report on the observation of another threshold magnetic field never encountered before in any other solid. Above this field, Bempty, one or two valleys become totally empty. Drying up a Fermi sea by magnetic field in the Brillouin zone leads to a manyfold enhancement in electric conductance. We trace the origin of the large drop in magnetoresistance across Bempty to transfer of carriers between valleys with highly anisotropic mobilities. The non-interacting picture of electrons with field-dependent mobility explains most results but the Coulomb interaction may play a role in shaping the fine details.

References

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Aug 26, 2009·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Hiroshi Yaguchi, John Singleton
Aug 29, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Zengwei ZhuKamran Behnia
Jul 16, 2013·Physical Review Letters·Benoît FauquéKamran Behnia
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Dec 5, 2015·Physical Review Letters·Yuki FuseyaKamran Behnia

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Citations

Jun 26, 2018·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Zengwei ZhuYuki Fuseya
Sep 12, 2018·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Mitsuaki OwadaYuki Fuseya
Aug 8, 2018·Physical Review Letters·M A MueedM Shayegan
Nov 4, 2020·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Atsushi MiyakeMasashi Tokunaga
Nov 18, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jinhua WangKamran Behnia
Mar 31, 2021·Physical Review Letters·Christophe MarcenatBenoît Fauqué

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