Topological Semimetal KAlGe with Novel Electronic Instability

Abstract

Compounds with an anti-PbFCl structure exhibit a variety of electronic instabilities and intriguing physical properties. NaAlSi and NaAlGe are similar topological nodal-line semimetals, but they have distinct properties. NaAlSi is a superconductor at 6.8 K, whereas NaAlGe is an insulator with a pseudogap of approximately 100 K. Using the potassium–indium flux method, we succeeded in synthesizing a single crystal of KAlGe, a new anti-PbFCl compound. First-principles electronic structure calculations reveal that KAlGe is isoelectronic with NaAlSi and NaAlGe. KAlGe undergoes a metal-to-metal transition at 89 K and exhibits no superconductivity above 1.8 K. The low-temperature phase has significantly lower carrier density and extremely high mobility, similar to Dirac electron systems. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction experiments show a structural change that breaks the fourfold symmetry during the phase transition. Electron–phonon interactions may be responsible for superconductivity in NaAlSi, whereas excitonic electron–hole interactions are thought to play an important role in KAlGe and possibly NaAlGe. Our findings demonstrate that fascinating physics lies within the compound family.