Orbital-dependent charge dynamics in MnP revealed by optical study

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 14178 - 9
• Main Authors: Zheng, P., Xu, Y. J., Wu, W., Xu, G., Lv, J. L., Lin, F. K., Wang, P., Yang, Yi-feng, Luo, J. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27-10-2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/766/119/1003; 639/766/119/995; Crystal structure; Crystals; Energy charge; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-14648-7

Unconventional superconductivity often emerges at the border of long-range magnetic orders. Understanding the low-energy charge dynamics may provide crucial information on the formation of superconductivity. Here we report the unpolarized/polarized optical conductivity study of high quality MnP single crystals at ambient pressure. Our data reveal two types of charge carriers with very different lifetimes. In combination with the first-principles calculations, we show that the short-lifetime carriers have flat Fermi sheets which become gapped in the helimagnetic phase, causing a dramatic change in the low-frequency optical spectra, while the long-lifetime carriers are anisotropic three-dimensional like which are little affected by the magnetic transitions and provide major contributions to the transport properties. This orbital-dependent charge dynamics originates from the special crystal structure of MnP and may have an influence on the unconventional superconductivity and its interplay with helimagnetism at high pressures.