Anomalous Hall effect in Weyl semimetal half Heusler compounds RPtBi (R = Gd and Nd)

Understand

Topological materials ranging from topological insulators to Weyl and Dirac semimetals form one of the most exciting current fields in condensed-matter research.

• Many half-Heusler compounds, RPtBi (R= rare earth) have been theoretically predicted to be topological semimetals.
• Among various topological attributes envisaged in RPtBi, topological surface states, chiral anomaly and planar Hall effect have been observed experimentally.
• Here, we report on an unusual intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in the antiferromagnetic Heusler Weyl semimetal compounds GdPtBi and NdPtBi that is observed over a wide temperature range.