Temperature dependence of quantum oscillations from non-parabolic dispersions.

Guo, Chunyu; Alexandradinata, A; Putzke, Carsten; Estry, Amelia; Tu, Teng; Kumar, Nitesh; Fan, Feng-Ren; Zhang, Shengnan et al. · Nat Commun · 2021

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The phase offset of quantum oscillations is commonly used to experimentally diagnose topologically nontrivial Fermi surfaces. This methodology, however, is inconclusive for spin-orbit-coupled metals where π-phase-shifts can also arise from non-topological origins. Here, we show that the linear dispersion in topological metals leads to a T<sup>2</sup>-temperature correction to the oscillation frequency that is absent for parabolic dispersions. We confirm this effect experimentally in the Dirac semi-metal Cd<sub>3</sub>As<sub>2</sub> and the multiband Dirac metal LaRhIn<sub>5</sub>. Both materials match a tuning-parameter-free theoretical prediction, emphasizing their unified origin. For topologically trivial Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>Se, no frequency shift associated to linear bands is observed as expected. However, the π-phase shift in Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>Se would lead to a false positive in a Landau-fan plot analysis. Our frequency-focused methodology does not require any input from ab-initio calculations, and hence is promising for identifying correlated topological materials.