Anomalous Positron Lifetime in Single Crystal of Weyl Semimetal CoSi

Abstract

The positron annihilation lifetimes were measured using a 48V positron source in noncentrosymmetric cubic single crystals of CoSi, FeSi and MnSi. The following lifetimes were determined from the positron annihilation time spectra: 168(1) ps for CoSi, 114(1) ps for FeSi and 111(1) ps for MnSi. For single-crystal CoSi, the positron annihilation lifetime was also determined with a 22Na positron source. For CoSi, the lifetimes obtained from different positron sources are consistent. The differences in the positron annihilation lifetimes in MnSi and FeSi, on the one hand, and in the Weyl semimetal CoSi, on the other hand, are possibly caused by the formation of a positron + electron bound state (positronium).