# Symmetry-enforced Fermi degeneracy in topological semimetal RhSb$_3$

## TL;DR

This study investigates RhSb$_3$, a topological semimetal with symmetry-enforced Fermi degeneracy, revealing unique electronic properties such as linear magnetoresistance, high mobility, and a non-zero Berry's phase, supported by experiments and calculations.

## Contribution

It demonstrates RhSb$_3$ as a new class of topological semimetals with symmetry-protected Fermi degeneracy and detailed experimental characterization of its electronic structure.

## Key findings

- Linear magnetoresistance approaches 200 at 60 T
- Quantum oscillations indicate high Fermi velocity and mobility
- Effective mass as low as 0.018 times electron mass

## Abstract

Predictions of a topological electronic structure in the skutterudite TPn$_3$ family (T=transition metal, Pn=pnictogen) are investigated via magnetoresistance, quantum oscillations and angle-resolved photoemission experiments of RhSb$_3$, an unfilled skutterudite semimetal with low carrier density. Electronic band structure calculations and symmetry analysis of RhSb$_3$ indicate this material to be a zero-gap semimetal protected by symmetry with inverted valence/conduction bands that touch at the $\Gamma$ point close to the Fermi level. Transport experiments reveal an unsaturated linear magnetoresistance that approaches a factor of 200 at 60~T magnetic fields, and quantum oscillations observable up to 150~K that are consistent with a large Fermi velocity ($\sim 1.3\times 10^6$ m/s), high carrier mobility ($\sim 14$ m$^2$/Vs), and the existence of a small three dimensional hole pocket. A very small, sample-dependent effective mass falls to values as low as $0.018(2)$ of the bare electron mass and scales with Fermi wavevector. This, together with a non-zero Berry's phase and location of the Fermi level in the linear region of the valence band, suggests RhSb$_3$ as representative of a new class of toplogical semimeals with symmetry-enforced Fermi degeneracy at the high symmetry points.