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Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Advanced Experimental Methods for Low-temperature Magnetotransport Measurement of Novel Materials
Published on: January 21, 2016
Anomalous negative longitudinal magnetoresistance and violation of Ohm's law deep in the topological insulating
Amit Vashist1, R K Gopal1, Yogesh Singh1
1Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Knowledge City, Sector 81, Mohali, 140306 India.
Abstract:
Bi[Formula: see text]Sb[Formula: see text] is a topological insulator (TI) for [Formula: see text]-0.20. Close to the Topological phase transition at [Formula: see text], a magnetic field induced Weyl semi-metal (WSM) state is stabilized due to the splitting of the Dirac cone into two Weyl cones of opposite chirality. A signature of the Weyl state is the observation of a Chiral anomaly [negative longitudinal magnetoresistance (LMR)] and a violation of the Ohm's law (non-linear [Formula: see text]). We report the unexpected discovery of Chiral anomaly-like features in the whole range ([Formula: see text]) of the TI state. This points to a field induced WSM state in an extended x range and not just near the topological transition at [Formula: see text]. Surprisingly, the strongest Weyl phase is found at [Formula: see text] with a non-saturating negative LMR much larger than observed for [Formula: see text]. The negative LMR vanishes rapidly with increasing angle between B and I. Additionally, non-linear I-V is found for [Formula: see text] indicating a violation of Ohm's law. This unexpected observation of a strong Weyl state in the whole TI regime in Bi[Formula: see text]Sb[Formula: see text] points to a gap in our understanding of the detailed crystal and electronic structure evolution in this alloy system.
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