Tunable chiral anomaly in electron magnetotransport in the Weyl semimetallic Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Te:Cr alloy

Abstract

We study magnetotransport properties of semiconductor substitutional alloy Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Te, known to exhibit Sn-content dependent properties of topological crystalline insulators with a semimetallic zero-gap state at a specific band inversion point. We experimentally verify the theoretically predicted role of chemical disorder in this multivalley electron system, which leads to sequential band inversions in various valleys and places the Fermi level close to the pairs of Weyl nodes, as identified in the density functional theory calculations. Doping with mixed-valence Cr resonant impurities enables exploitation of the unique properties of dopant resonant states, which provide an effective means of tuning carrier concentration. The combination of these two effects results in the pinning of the Fermi level in the vicinity of the nodal touching points across a wide range of composition. To address the above issues, we grow Bridgman bulk crystals of Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Te heavily doped with chromium and covering the full range of tin (0 $\leq x \leq$ 1), i.e. spanning both the topological crystalline insulator and trivial electronic regimes. We observe the emergence of the three dimensional (3D) Weyl semimetal phase over a range of Sn compositions, namely for $0.25 < x < 0.45$. We provide magnetotransport evidence for this and verify the relationship between the magnitude of the experimentally determined Berry curvature and the electrical properties of these materials. Quantum transport regime observed in magnetoresistance is also independently confirmed by thermal conductivity measurements.