Anomalous Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations in rare-earth tritelluride NdTe3

Abstract

Materials with the structural motif of a square net have in recent years attracted attention for their often unexpected electronic properties. Here, we present low-temperature magnetotransport experiments on high-quality ${\mathrm{NdTe}}_{3}$ single crystals with a carrier mobility of $6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/V s at 2.25 K; an increase of 58% is observed below the N\'eel temperature. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations up to 9 T exhibit anomalies in their amplitude which deviates from the conventional Lifshitz-Kosevich behavior below the magnetic ordering temperature and around 20 K. The latter, which has so far not been observed in any tritelluride, suggests a field- and temperature-induced electronic structure transition. We provide a thorough analysis of three different samples, highlighting the importance of sample quality for elucidating details in the transport behavior. Our results on ${\mathrm{NdTe}}_{3}$ suggest that rare-earth tritellurides may display so-far obscured exotic electronic properties in addition to the well-studied high-temperature charge density wave anomalies.