Large magnetoresistance and weak-antilocalization in the nodal-line semimetal VP2

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic transport properties of VP$_2$, a type-II nodal-line semimetal, revealing large magnetoresistance, weak anti-localization, and effects of magnetic impurities through experimental and theoretical analysis.

Contribution

The paper provides the first systematic study of VP$_2$'s transport properties, combining experimental measurements with band and Fermi surface calculations to reveal its topological and magnetic impurity effects.

Findings

Magnetoresistance reaches 170% at 40 K under 9 T without saturation.

Weak anti-localization behavior observed at low magnetic fields.

Magnetic impurities induce Kondo effect in the material.

Abstract

After growing successfully high quality VP$_2$ single crystals, we studied systematically their longitudinal $\rho_{xx}(T)$ and Hall resistivity $\rho_{yx}(T)$ at various magnetic fields, combining the electronic band and Fermi surface (FS) calculations. Band calculations reveal that VP$_2$ is a type-II nodal-line semimetal, evidenced by the Hall resistivity measurements. It is found that the magnetoresistance (MR) at higher magnetic fields exhibits a linear behavior and does not show any sign of saturation, reaching 170\% at 40 K up to 9 T, which is determined by the intrinsic electronic structure and dominated by the Lorenz force, demonstrated by the resistivity anisotropy measurements and the numerical simulations. We also found that the existence of small amount magnetic impurities (V$^{4+}$, $S=1/2$, 2.24\%) results in Kondo effect emerging in $\rho_{xx}(T)$, the conductivity at lower magnetic fields exhibits a typical weak anti-localization (WAL) behavior. These results illustrate that VP$_2$ is a platform to study the electronic transport properties of a topological material containing magnetic impurities.