Weyl semimetallic phase in high pressure CrSb2 and structural compression studies of its high pressure polymorphs

Abstract

In this study, high pressure synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction is used to investigate the compression of two high pressure polymorphs of CrSb2. The first is the CuAl2-type polymorph with an eight-fold coordinated Cr, which can be quenched to ambient conditions from high-pressure high-temperature conditions. The second is the recently discovered MoP2-type polymorph, which is induced by compression at room temperature, with a seven-fold coordinated Cr. Here, the assigned structure is unambiguously confirmed by solving it from single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the electrical properties of the MoP2-type polymorph were investigated theoretically and the resistance calculations under pressure were accompanied by resistance measurements under high pressure on a single crystal of CrSb2. The calculated electronic band structure for the MoP2-type phase is discussed and we show that the polymorph is semimetallic and possesses type-I Weyl points. No further phase transitions were observed for the CuAl2-type structure up to 50 GPa and 40 GPa for the MoP2-type structure. Even though the CuAl2-phase has the highest coordination number of Cr, it was found to be less compressible than the MoP2-phase having a seven-fold coordinated Cr, which was attributed to the longer Cr-Sb distance in the CuAl2-type phase. The discovery of a type-I Weyl semimetallic phase in CrSb2 opens up for discovering other Weyl semimetals in the transition metal di-pnictides under high pressure.