Galvanomagnetic properties of the putative type-II Dirac semimetal PtTe(2)

Platinum ditelluride has recently been characterized, based on angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data and electronic band structure calculations, as a possible representative of type-II Dirac semimetals. Here, we report on the magnetotransport behavior (electrical resistivity, Hall effect) in this compound, investigated on high-quality single-crystalline specimens. The magnetoresistance (MR) of PtTe(2) is large (over 3000% at T = 1.8 K in B = 9 T) and unsaturated in strong fields in the entire temperature range studied. The MR isotherms obey a Kohler’s type scaling with the exponent m = 1.69, different from the case of ideal electron-hole compensation. In applied magnetic fields, the resistivity shows a low-temperature plateau, characteristic of topological semimetals. In strong fields, well-resolved Shubnikov – de Haas (SdH) oscillations with two principle frequencies were found, and their analysis yielded charge mobilities of the order of 10(3) cm(2) V(−1) s(−1) and rather small effective masses of charge carriers, 0.11 m(e) and 0.21 m(e). However, the extracted Berry phases point to trivial character of the electronic bands involved in the SdH oscillations. The Hall effect data corroborated a multi-band character of the electrical conductivity in PtTe(2), with moderate charge compensation.