Origin of exceptional magneto-resistance in Weyl semimetal TaSb2

Abstract We study magneto-transport properties in single crystals of TaSb2, which is a topological semimetal. In the presence of magnetic field, the electrical resistivity shows onset of insulating behaviour followed by a plateau at low temperature. Such resistivity saturation is generally assigned to topological surface states but we find that aspects of extremely large magneto resistance and resistivity plateau are well accounted by classical Kohler’s scaling. In addition, magneto-resistance in TaSb2 shows non-saturating field dependence. Evidence for anomalous Chiral transport is provided with observation of negative longitudinal magneto-resistance. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation data reveal two dominating frequencies, 201 T and 455 T. At low temperature, the field dependence of Hall resistivity shows non-linear behaviour that indicates the presence of two types of charge carriers in consonance with reported electronic band structure. Analysis of Hall resistivity implies extremely high electron mobility.