Electrical and thermal magnetotransport in altermagnetic CrSb

TL;DR

This study explores the electrical and thermal magnetotransport properties of CrSb, revealing large magnetoresistance, nonlinear Hall effects, and complex heat conduction mechanisms in an altermagnetic material.

Contribution

It provides detailed experimental insights into the magnetotransport behavior of CrSb, highlighting its electronic structure and heat conduction characteristics in high magnetic fields.

Findings

Large nonsaturating magnetoresistance observed.

Coexistence of electron- and hole-like charge carriers with high mobility.

Thermal Hall response and conductivity exceed simple theoretical expectations.

Abstract

Chromium antimonide has emerged as a key material platform for studying altermagnetism because of its simple binary composition, high N\'eel temperature, and semimetallic electronic structure. Here, we investigate electrical and thermal magnetotransport in single-crystalline CrSb using steady-and pulsed-magnetic fields up to 65 T, and complement these measurements with neutron diffraction and magnetization data. We confirm the compensated magnetic structure and observe a large nonsaturating magnetoresistance together with a pronounced nonlinear Hall response at low temperatures. Multicarrier modeling, supported by mobility-spectrum analysis, reveals coexisting electron- and hole-like charge carriers with mobilities up to ~3000 cm2/Vs and shows that the number of transport channels that can be resolved strongly depends on the accessible magnetic-field range. Thermal-transport measurements further reveal a nonlinear thermal Hall response and a thermal conductivity substantially exceeding a simple Wiedemann-Franz law. The broadly similar field and temperature evolution of electrical and thermal transport point to a dominant electronic contribution, while the remaining deviations indicate additional heat-carrying channels.