Electronic Properties of BaPtP with a Noncentrosymmetric Cubic Crystal Structure

TL;DR

This paper investigates BaPtP's electronic properties and structure, revealing its metallic nature, superconductivity at very low temperatures, and significant spin-orbit coupling effects due to its noncentrosymmetric cubic crystal structure.

Contribution

It provides the first synthesis and detailed electronic analysis of BaPtP with a noncentrosymmetric cubic structure, highlighting its superconductivity and strong spin-orbit coupling effects.

Findings

BaPtP is a metal with superconductivity below 0.2 K.

First principles calculations show large spin splitting at the Fermi level.

Strong spin-orbit coupling likely leads to interesting physical phenomena.

Abstract

We report the synthesis, electronic properties, and electronic structure of LaIrSi-type BaPtP with a noncentrosymmetric cubic crystal structure. Electrical resistivity and heat capacity data taken by using polycrystalline samples indicated that BaPtP is a metal, which was further supported by first principles calculations. A polycrystalline sample of BaPtP showed a zero resistivity below 0.2 K due to the superconducting transition. The first principles calculation results indicated that the spin splitting at around the Fermi energy is large in BaPtP. These results suggest that BaPtP is likely to exhibit interesting physical properties caused by a strong spin-orbit coupling of 5d electrons in the Pt atoms.