Disentangling contributions to longitudinal magnetoconductivity for Kramers-Weyl nodes

TL;DR

This paper calculates the longitudinal magnetoconductivity of Kramers-Weyl nodes in chiral crystals, revealing unique contributions from their quadratic dispersion, spin coupling, and topological properties, with exact semiclassical solutions.

Contribution

It provides the first exact semiclassical calculation of magnetoconductivity for Kramers-Weyl nodes, accounting for their quadratic dispersion, spin effects, and topological contributions.

Findings

Identifies a linear-in-B contribution to conductivity due to spin coupling.

Shows the coexistence of B and B^2 dependencies in magnetoconductivity.

Highlights the impact of two concentric Fermi surfaces on transport properties.

Abstract

We set out to compute the longitudinal magnetoconductivity for an isolated and isotropic Kramers-Weyl node (KWN), existing in chiral crystals, which forms an exotic cousin of the conventional Weyl nodes resulting from band-inversions. The peculiarities of KWNs are many, the principal one being the presence of two concentric Fermi surfaces at any positive chemical potential ($\mu$) with respect to the nodal point. This is caused by a dominant quadratic-in-momentum dispersion, with the linear-in-momentum Dirac- or Weyl-like terms relegated to a secondary status. In a KWN, the chirally-conjugate node typically serves as a mere doppelg\"anger, being significantly separated in energy. Hence, when $\mu$ is set near such a node, the signatures of a lone node are probed in the transport-measurements. The intrinsic topological quantities in the forms of Berry curvature and orbital magnetic moment contribute to the linear response, which we determine by exactly solving the semiclassical Bolzmann equations. Another crucial feature is that the two bands at the same KWN node carry actual spin-quantum numbers, thus providing an additional coupling to an external magnetic field ($\boldsymbol B$), and affecting the conductivity. We take this into account as well, and demonstrate that it causes a linear-in-$B$ dependence, on top of the usual $B^2$-dependence.