Lorentz Skew Scattering and Giant Nonreciprocal Magneto-Transport

TL;DR

This paper reveals a new Lorentz skew scattering mechanism that dominates nonreciprocal magneto-transport in high-mobility topological materials, with distinct temperature-dependent scaling behaviors, advancing understanding and design of nonreciprocal devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Lorentz skew scattering effect that explains nonlinear magneto-transport in clean systems, unifying longitudinal and transverse responses with unique scaling laws.

Findings

Lorentz skew scattering dominates in high-conductivity systems.

Scaling behavior shifts from cubic to quartic with temperature.

Application to topological materials suggests routes for giant nonreciprocal transport.

Abstract

Skew scattering is the well-known dominant mechanism for anomalous Hall transport in highly conductive systems. However, despite extensive research, the primary mechanism governing nonlinear (nonreciprocal) magneto-transport in clean samples remains unknown. This theoretical gap has impeded the development of design principles for efficient nonreciprocal devices. Here, we unveil a hitherto unexplored effect in nonreciprocal magneto-transport from cooperative action of Lorentz force and skew scattering. The significance of this Lorentz skew scattering mechanism lies in that it dominates both longitudinal and transverse responses in highly conductive systems, and it exhibits a scaling behavior distinct from all known mechanisms. At low temperature, it shows a cubic scaling in linear conductivity, whereas the scaling becomes quartic at elevated temperature when phonon scattering kicks in. Applying our developed microscopic theory to surface transport in topological crystalline insulator SnTe and bulk transport in Weyl semimetals leads to significant results, suggesting a new route to achieve giant transport nonreciprocity in high-mobility materials with topological band features.