Nontrivial topological states in the tantalum dipnictides TaX2 (X = As, P)

Abstract

The intriguing quasiparticles in solids, known as Dirac, Weyl, and Majorana fermions, etc. with properties akin to those theoretically predicted but never realized in high-energy physics, have excited intensive research activities in recent years. The transition metal dipnictides are attractive because of their extremely large magnetoresistance that is usually attributed to the carrier compensation effect. We briefly review herein the crystal growth, magneto-transport measurements, and theoretical studies of tantalum dipnictides TaAs2 and TaP2, with the emphasis being put on discussion of the nontrivial topological states in both materials. The analysis of quantum oscillations of the magnetoresistance unveils nonzero Berry phase. The chiral negative longitudinal magnetoresistance further points to possible Weyl state, which was recently theoretically suggested as the result of the magnetic field-induced Zeeman splitting effect no matter how large the field is. The analysis of these intriguing behaviors could brush up our understanding about the family of materials and would be valuable for future work on investigating the magnetic field-induced topological phase transition in such semimetals.