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Low temperature investigation of candidate type-II Weyl semimetal LaAlGe

ORAL

Abstract

Weyl semimetals continue to be a flourishing topic of research because of their non-trivial surface states and topology [1] and their exciting experimental realizations in magnetotransport [2], thermopower [3], and optical spectroscopy [4]. These unique ground states motivate us to investigate the proposed Weyl semimetal LaAlGe [5], a compound previously only investigated theoretically and with X-ray diffraction.
We use a molten flux growth technique to precipitate pristine LaAlGe single crystals that crystalize in the non-centrosymmetric crystal structure required for Weyl points to exist. We will discuss our electrical transport, magnetization, penetration depth, and heat capacity measurements of this topological compound, detailing both our experimental results and the future implications of this work.

[1] B. Yan et al., Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 8, 337 (2017)
[2] C. Shekhar et al., Nat. Phys. 11, 645 (2015)
[3] B. Skinner et al., Sci. Adv. 4, 1 (2019)
[4] N. Sirica et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 197401 (2019)
[5] S.-Y. Xu et al., Sci. Adv. 3, 1 (2018)

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Presenters

  • Mark Zic

    University of Maryland, College Park

Authors

  • Mark Zic

    University of Maryland, College Park

  • Chris Eckberg

    University of Maryland, College Park, Physics Department, University of Maryland

  • Halyna Hodovanets

    University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland-College Park,College Park, Maryland 20742

  • Seokjin Bae

    University of Maryland, College Park, Center for Quantum Materials, University of Maryland

  • Hyunsoo Kim

    University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland-College Park,College Park, Maryland 20742

  • Tristin Metz

    University of Maryland, College Park, Physics Department, University of Maryland, Center for Quantum Materials, University of Maryland

  • Sean Winters

    University of Maryland, College Park

  • Daniel Kraft

    University of Maryland, College Park

  • Steven Anlage

    University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Physics and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park, Center for Quantum Materials, University of Maryland

  • Johnpierre Paglione

    University of Maryland, College Park, Physics Department, University of Maryland, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland College Park, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland, College Park & NIST, Univ of Maryland-Colege Park, Center for Quantum Materials, University of Maryland, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland-College Park,College Park, Maryland 20742