Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations of massive Dirac fermions in a Dirac antiferromagnet SrMnSb2

Abstract

We investigate the physical properties of massive Dirac fermions in SrMnSb2 using transport, specific heat, electronic structure calculations, and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations. SrMnSb2 is a candidate Dirac antiferromagnet, consisting of the MnSb layers and the distorted square net of Sb atoms with a zigzag chain structure. This structural distortion leads to gap opening at the band crossing point found in the square lattice of the sister compound SrMnBi2 but leaves another Dirac band crossing near the Brillouin zone boundary. The small 2D Fermi surface with a light electron mass and a small Fermi energy is confirmed by the large resistivity anisotropy, the large Seebeck coefficient, and also the angle and temperature dependent SdH oscillations. The Berry phase obtained from the SdH oscillations is trivial, in contrast to the case of SrMnBi2. The relatively large spin orbit coupling gap and the small Fermi energy in SrMnSb2 is found to be essential to understand this contrasting behavior of the massive Dirac fermions as compared to SrMnBi2. Our observations demonstrate that the Berry phase of the mobile electrons in SrMnSb2 is sensitive to the Fermi level change and can be tuned by doping or deficiency.