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Hall Coefficient of Semimetals.

Abhisek Samanta¹, Daniel P Arovas², Assa Auerbach¹

¹Physics Department, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel.

Physical Review Letters

|March 5, 2021

Summary

A new formula for the Hall coefficient is applied to semimetals and semiconductors. This reveals deviations from standard models linked to electronic band structures and Fermi surface topology.

Area of Science:

Condensed matter physics
Solid-state physics
Materials science

Background:

The Hall coefficient is a fundamental property in condensed matter physics.
Understanding its behavior in novel materials like semimetals is crucial.
Existing models may not fully capture complex electronic structures.

Purpose of the Study:

To apply a new Hall coefficient formula to various electronic systems.
To investigate deviations from conventional theories.
To link these deviations to specific material properties.

Main Methods:

Application of a recently developed Hall coefficient formula.
Analysis of nodal line and Weyl semimetals, including graphene.
Examination of spin-orbit split semiconductor bands in 2D and 3D.

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Reduction of calculations to a ratio of equilibrium susceptibilities.

Main Results:

The formula simplifies to a ratio of equilibrium susceptibilities under weak disorder.
Deviations from Drude's inverse carrier density are identified.
These deviations are correlated with band degeneracies, Fermi surface topology, and interband currents.

Conclusions:

The new formula provides insights into the Hall coefficient of complex materials.
Deviations offer a probe into electronic band structure and topology.
Experimental verification of these predictions is proposed.