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    Comparative investigation of extremely high mobility in α- and β−WP2 crystals by electrical transport and Raman spectroscopy

    Qi-Xun Wen1,2,*, Yue-Peng Dai1,2,*, Kai-Ying Yang1,2, Gan Liu1,2, Yang-Yang Lv1,3,†, Cheng-Hao Yin1,2, Su-Tao Sun1,2, Pei-Xin Ma1,2, Hao Ren1,3 et al.

    Xiao-Xiang Xi1,2, Jian Zhou1,3, Shu-Hua Yao1,3, Y. B. Chen1,2,‡, and Yan-Feng Chen1,3,4

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: lvyangws0801@nju.edu.cn
    • ‡Contact author: ybchen@nju.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. B 114, 214303 – Published 13 October, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xlmz-2cg1

    Abstract

    The microscopic origin of high carrier mobility in transition-metal diphosphides remains under debate, with proposed mechanisms including hydrodynamic electron flow and suppressed momentum relaxation associated with spin-momentum locking. WP2 provides a useful platform for addressing this issue because it crystallizes in two polymorphs: monoclinic α−WP2, a topologically trivial semimetal, and orthorhombic β−WP2, a type-II Weyl semimetal. Here, we grew high-quality α- and β−WP2 single crystals with residual-resistivity ratios of 3700 and 4200, respectively. Electrical transport measurements yield carrier mobilities of 1.90×105 and 1.88×105cm2V−1s−1 at 5 K for α- and β−WP2, corresponding to transport lifetimes τt of 6.93×10−11 and 1.38×10−10 s. Low-temperature resistivity analysis shows that the data are better described by residual impurity scattering together with a phonon-drag-related contribution than by simple T2 electron-electron or T5 electron-phonon forms. Raman spectra show linewidth broadening and weak Fano-type asymmetry in selected phonon modes, indicating mode-dependent electron-phonon coupling. Analysis of the electronic Raman response gives quantum quasiparticle lifetimes τq of 4.25×10−14 and 3.74×10−14 s at 5 K for α- and β−WP2, yielding τt/τq=1632 and 3698, respectively. To account for this large τt/τq, we propose that two mechanisms may play crucial roles: spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which suppresses backscattering for k points near band extrema, and orbital-momentum locking (OML), which restrains large-angle scattering for k points away from band extrema. These results provide a comparative view of carrier scattering in the two phases of WP2 and suggest that SOC and OML are relevant to the high mobility in transition-metal diphosphides.

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