When electric conductors differ from their mirror image, unusual chiral transport coefficients appear that are forbidden in achiral metals, such as a non-linear electric response known as electronic magnetochiral anisotropy (eMChA)1–6. Although chiral transport signatures are allowed by symmetry in many conductors without a centre of inversion, they reach appreciable levels only in rare cases in which an exceptionally strong chiral coupling to the itinerant electrons is present. So far, observations of chiral transport have been limited to materials in which the atomic positions strongly break mirror symmetries. Here, we report chiral transport in the centrosymmetric layered kagome metal CsV3Sb5 observed via second-harmonic generation under an in-plane magnetic field. The eMChA signal becomes significant only at temperatures below $${T}^{{\prime} }\approx $$ T ′ ≈ 35 K, deep within the charge-ordered state of CsV3Sb5 (TCDW ≈ 94 K). This temperature dependence reveals a direct correspondence between electronic chirality, unidirectional charge order7 and spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking due to putative orbital loop currents8–10. We show that the chirality is set by the out-of-plane field component and that a transition from left- to right-handed transport can be induced by changing the field sign. CsV3Sb5 is the first material in which strong chiral transport can be controlled and switched by small magnetic field changes, in stark contrast to structurally chiral materials, which is a prerequisite for applications in chiral electronics.
Topological semimetals are well known for their interesting physical properties, while their mechanical properties have rarely received attention. With the increasing demand for flexible electronics, we explore the great potential of the van der Waals bonded Weyl semimetal WTe2 for flexible thermoelectric applications. We find that WTe2 single crystals have an ultrahigh Nernst power factor of ~3 Wm−1K−2, which outperforms the conventional Seebeck power factors of the state-of-the-art thermoelectric semiconductors by 2–3 orders of magnitude. A unique band structure that hosts compensated electrons and holes with extremely high mobilities is the primary mechanism for this huge Nernst power factor. Moreover, a large Ettingshausen signal of ~5 × 10−5 KA−1m is observed at 23.1 K and 9 T. In this work, the combination of the exceptional Nernst–Ettingshausen performance and excellent mechanical transformative ability of WTe2 would be instructive for flexible micro-/nano-thermoelectric devices.
The cascade of electronic phases in CsV 3 Sb 5 raises the prospect to disentangle their mutual interactions in a clean, strongly interacting kagome lattice. When the kagome planes are stacked into a crystal, its electronic dimensionality encodes how much of the kagome physics and its topological aspects survive. The layered structure of CsV 3 Sb 5 reflects in Brillouin-zone-sized quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surfaces and significant transport anisotropy. Yet here we demonstrate that CsV 3 Sb 5 is a three-dimensional (3D) metal within the charge density wave (CDW) state. Small 3D pockets play a crucial role in its low-temperature magneto-and quantum transport. Their emergence at T CDW ≈ 93 K results in an anomalous sudden increase of the in-plane magnetoresistance by four orders of magnitude. The presence of these 3D pockets is further confirmed by quantum oscillations under in-plane magnetic fields, demonstrating their closed nature. These results emphasize the impact of interlayer coupling on the kagome physics in 3D materials.
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