%0 Journal Article
%T "Hard" crystalline lattice in the Weyl semimetal NbAs
%A Yongkang Luo
%A N. J. Ghimire
%A E. D. Bauer
%A J. D. Thompson
%A F. Ronning
%J Physics
%D 2015
%I arXiv
%X We report the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the magnetotransport properties of the Weyl semimetal NbAs. Subtle changes can be seen in the $\rho_{xx}(T)$ profiles with pressure up to 2.31 GPa. The Fermi surfaces undergo an anisotropic evolution under pressure: the extremal areas slightly increase in the $\mathbf{k_x}$-$\mathbf{k_y}$ plane, but decrease in the $\mathbf{k_z}$-$\mathbf{k_y}$($\mathbf{k_x}$) plane. The topological features of the two pockets observed at atmospheric pressure, however, remain unchanged at 2.31 GPa. No superconductivity can be seen down to 0.3 K for all the pressures measured. By fitting the temperature dependence of specific heat to the Debye model, we obtain a small Sommerfeld coefficient $\gamma_0=$ 0.09(1) mJ/(mol$\cdot$K$^2$) and a large Debye temperature, $\Theta_D=$ 450(9) K, confirming a "hard" crystalline lattice that is stable under pressure. We also studied the Kadowaki-Woods ratio of this low-carrier-density massless system, $R_{KW}=$ 3.2$\times 10^4$ $\mu\Omega$ cm mol$^2$ K$^2$ J$^{-2}$. After accounting for the small carrier density in NbAs, this $R_{KW}$ indicates a suppressed transport scattering rate relative to other metals.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.08538v1