Giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport in low-density metals via electron absorption of phonons

Oscillations of conductance observed in strong magnetic fields are a striking manifestation of the quantum dynamics of charge carriers in solids. The large charge carrier density in typical metals sets the scale of oscillations in both electrical and thermal conductivity, which characterize the Fermi surface. In semimetals, thermal transport at low-charge carrier density is expected to be phonon dominated, yet several experiments observe giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport. This raises the question of whether there is an overarching mechanism leading to sizable oscillations that survives in phonon-dominated semimetals. In this work, we show that such a mechanism exists. It relies on the peculiar phase-space allowed for phonon scattering by electrons when only a few Landau levels are filled. Our measurements on the Dirac semimetal ZrTe<sub>5</sub> support this counterintuitive mechanism through observation of pronounced thermal quantum oscillations, since they occur in similar magnitude and phase in directions parallel and transverse to the magnetic field. Our phase-space argument applies to all low-density semimetals, topological or not, including graphene and bismuth. Our work illustrates that phonon absorption can be leveraged to reveal degrees of freedom through their imprint on longitudinal thermal transport.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-03-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408546122
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Topological Materials and Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.25

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article

Giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport in low-density metals via electron absorption of phonons

Genda Gu, Adolfo G. Grushin, Baptiste Bermond, Filip Janasz et al.
1 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Topological Materials and Phenomena
1.25
article

Giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport in low-density metals via electron absorption of phonons

Genda Gu, Adolfo G. Grushin, Baptiste Bermond, Filip Janasz, Tobias Meng, Tommy Kotte, Johannes Gooth, R. Wawrzyńczak, David Carpentier, S. Zherlitsyn, Stanisław Gałeski, J. Wosnitza, D. I. Gorbunov, Claudia Felser, Toni Helm, Q. Li, Fabian Menges
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Oscillations of conductance observed in strong magnetic fields are a striking manifestation of the quantum dynamics of charge carriers in solids. The large charge carrier density in typical metals sets the scale of oscillations in both electrical and thermal conductivity, which characterize the Fermi surface. In semimetals, thermal transport at low-charge carrier density is expected to be phonon dominated, yet several experiments observe giant quantum oscillations in thermal transport. This raises the question of whether there is an overarching mechanism leading to sizable oscillations that survives in phonon-dominated semimetals. In this work, we show that such a mechanism exists. It relies on the peculiar phase-space allowed for phonon scattering by electrons when only a few Landau levels are filled. Our measurements on the Dirac semimetal ZrTe<sub>5</sub> support this counterintuitive mechanism through observation of pronounced thermal quantum oscillations, since they occur in similar magnitude and phase in directions parallel and transverse to the magnetic field. Our phase-space argument applies to all low-density semimetals, topological or not, including graphene and bismuth. Our work illustrates that phonon absorption can be leveraged to reveal degrees of freedom through their imprint on longitudinal thermal transport.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(10)
Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR), University of Bonn (DE), University of Luxembourg (LU), Brookhaven National Laboratory (US), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE), Complexity, Topology and Dynamics in Quantum Matter (DE), Stony Brook Medicine (US), Centre Max Weber (FR), Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE), Instituto de Física Teórica (ES), Institut Néel (FR), Stony Brook University (US), Technische Universität Dresden (DE), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
U.S. Department of Energy, European Commission, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Basic Energy Sciences
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 25%
Topological Materials and Phenomena
1.25
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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