Abstract
The bismuth-based half-Heusler materials host a nontrivial topological band structure, unconventional superconductivity, and large spin-orbit coupling in a system with very low electron density. In particular, the inversion of p-orbital-derived bands with an effective angular momentum j of up to 3/2 is thought to play a central role in anomalous Cooper pairing in the cubic half-Heusler semimetal YPtBi, which is thought to be the first "high-spin" superconductor. Here, we report an extensive study of the angular dependence of quantum oscillations (QOs) in the electrical conductivity of YPtBi, revealing an anomalous Shubnikov-de Haas effect consistent with the presence of a coherent j=3/2 Fermi surface. The QO signal in YPtBi manifests an extreme anisotropy upon rotation of the magnetic field from the [100] to [110] crystallographic direction, where the QO amplitude vanishes. This radical anisotropy for such a highly isotropic system cannot be explained by trivial scenarios involving changes in effective mass or impurity scattering, but rather is naturally explained by the warping feature of the j=3/2 Fermi surface of YPtBi, providing direct proof of active high angular momentum quasiparticles in the half-Heusler compounds.
Recommended Citation
H. Kim et al., "Quantum Oscillations of the J=3/2 Fermi Surface in the Topological Semimetal Yptbi," Physical Review Research, vol. 4, no. 3, article no. 033169, American Physical Society, Jul 2022.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033169
Department(s)
Physics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2643-1564
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 The Authors, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publication Date
01 Jul 2022
Comments
National Science Foundation, Grant PHY-1607611