Theory of magneto-elastoresistance and application to WTe<sub>2</sub>: exploring electronic structure and extremely large magnetoresistance under strain

ORAL

Abstract

The application of uniaxial stress to is a promising route to probe and control the properties of quantum materials. One crucial step is to quantify the effects of strain on the electronic band structure, carrier density and mobility. Here, we demonstrate that much information can be obtained by exploring a novel experimental observable: magneto-elastoresistance (MER), which refers to magnetic field-driven changes of the elastoresistance. We apply this powerful approach to study the combined effect of strain and magnetic fields on the semi-metallic transition metal dichalcogenide WTe2, and discover a large and temperature non-monotonic elastoresistance (ER) that can be tuned by magnetic field. We report on our theoretical analysis of these observations based on semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory combined with input from first-principles calculations. We highlight how MER can generally yield new insights beyond the zero field ER. For WTe2 specifically we derive an effective low-energy three-band model that can account for the salient experimental features.

*This work was supported by the U.S. DOE (BES, DMSE and EFRC CATS) funded through Ames Laboratory, Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358, and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4411.

–

Presenters

  • Peter Orth

    • Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University

Authors

  • Peter Orth

    • Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University

  • Na Hyun Jo

    • Iowa State University
    • Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory

  • Lin-Lin Wang

    • Ames Lab
    • Ames Laboratory
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory

  • Sergey L. Bud'ko

    • Iowa State University
    • Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University
    • Ames Lab
    • Ames laboratory, Ames, IA
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Ames Laboratory
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory
    • Iowa State University, Ames Laboratory
    • Division of Materials Sciences & Engineering, Ames Lab and Iowa State University
    • Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory

  • Paul C Canfield

    • Iowa State University
    • Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University
    • Ames Lab
    • Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
    • Ames laboratory, Ames, IA
    • Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory
    • Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory
    • Iowa State University, Ames Laboratory
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
    • Division of Materials Sciences & Engineering, Ames Lab and Iowa State University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ames Laboratory/Iowa State Univeristy
    • Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory