This work stands apart: the nearest neighbors in the field are studying strange metals, two-gap superconductors, and quantum effects in thin films, but no one had looked at the magnetotransport of PdTe. This material is interesting because it combines a Dirac electronic structure with superconductivity, and its transport properties have remained a blank spot. Data on superconductivity in PdTe have been accumulating, but magnetoresistance and the planar Hall effect had not been measured.
A high-quality single crystal of PdTe was grown by slow cooling of the melt. Resistance and Hall effect were measured in a Quantum Design PPMS Dynacool system in fields up to 14 T and at temperatures from 2 to 300 K. The magnetic field was rotated in the sample plane to isolate the planar Hall effect and anisotropic magnetoresistance. A two-band Hall model was used for analysis, and the data were compared with predictions from classical and quantum models.
The magnetoresistance is positive for both field orientations and reaches 112% at 5 K and 14 T. At low fields it is quadratic in field, but above a critical field Bc it becomes linear. Bc depends linearly on the inverse effective mobility, pointing to the Parish-Littlewood mobility fluctuation mechanism rather than the Abrikosov quantum limit. The planar Hall effect has an amplitude that grows as $B^1$.4, not $B^2$, and the parametric plot shows a shock-wave shape typical of anisotropic orbital magnetoresistance.
This work differs from its neighbors in that it is the first to probe magnetotransport in PdTe and shows that, despite the Dirac point being close to the Fermi level, the observed anomalies are explained by classical mechanisms. It is an important reminder that in topological materials, not every unusual behavior is due to topology. The result calls into question the practice of automatically attributing linear magnetoresistance or the planar Hall effect to the chiral anomaly without detailed analysis.
The topic could develop toward a more detailed study of the role of disorder in PdTe and other Dirac semimetals. It might be possible to control mobility fluctuations through controlled introduction of defects and observe the transition between classical and quantum regimes. It would also be interesting to investigate how superconductivity coexists with these transport anomalies at even lower temperatures.
The results will influence the interpretation of transport data in topological materials, especially in superconducting Dirac semimetals. They are also useful for developing criteria to distinguish classical and topological contributions to magnetotransport.
The next step could be to measure magnetotransport in PdTe with controlled disorder, for example after irradiation or doping. It is also important to check whether linear magnetoresistance persists in the superconducting state at fields below the critical field.
This work is directly related to an unresolved problem in condensed matter physics: how to distinguish topological and disorder contributions to transport anomalies in topological materials. It shows that even in a material with proven Dirac nature, classical mechanisms can dominate, raising the question of revisiting many previous interpretations of linear magnetoresistance and the planar Hall effect.
This section is addressed to the author of the paper and their colleagues. Neighbouring works were found by meaning-based search across our archive, not by word overlap. We do not review: we show the field around the work.
What the work does
For the first time, magnetoresistance and the planar Hall effect have been measured in a PdTe single crystal in fields up to 14 T. It is shown that the linear magnetoresistance arises from mobility fluctuations, and the planar Hall effect from anisotropic orbital magnetoresistance, without invoking topological mechanisms.
Where its strength is
The strength of the work is that it fills a gap in transport data for PdTe and provides a clear classical scenario for the observed anomalies, which is important for the community studying topological materials.
Where it could go next
Worth trying
Why this may matter
The results may help avoid misinterpretation of transport anomalies in topological materials and stimulate more detailed studies of PdTe as a model system for exploring the interplay between superconductivity and Dirac physics.
Nearby works in our archive
The archive is sparse around this work: the closest review is only 0.55, against a usual 0.64. It looks like few have drilled nearby.
The magnetic field required to reach the quantum limit in PdTe is estimated at 2.49 kilotesla, which is hundreds of times stronger than the field of the most powerful steady-state magnet in the world.