Signatures of a magnetic-field-induced Lifshitz transition in the ultra-quantum limit of the topological semimetal ZrTe₅.

Abstract

The quantum limit (QL) of an electron liquid, realised at strong magnetic fields, has long been proposed to host a wealth of strongly correlated states of matter. Electronic states in the QL are, for example, quasi-one dimensional (1D), which implies perfectly nested Fermi surfaces prone to instabilities. Whereas the QL typically requires unreachably strong magnetic fields, the topological semimetal ZrTe₅ has been shown to reach the QL at fields of only a few Tesla. Here, we characterize the QL of ZrTe₅ at fields up to 64 T by a combination of electrical-transport and ultrasound measurements. We find that the Zeeman effect in ZrTe₅ enables an efficient tuning of the 1D Landau band structure with magnetic field. This results in a Lifshitz transition to a 1D Weyl regime in which perfect charge neutrality can be achieved. Since no instability-driven phase transitions destabilise the 1D electron liquid for the investigated field strengths and temperatures, our analysis establishes ZrTe₅ as a thoroughly understood platform for potentially inducing more exotic interaction-driven phases at lower temperatures.