Observation of planar Hall effect in topological semimetal ZrSiSe device

Abstract

Planar Hall effect(PHE) is a newly emerging experimental tool to detect chiral anomaly and nontrivial Berry curvature in topological semimetals, as chiral-anomaly-induced negative magnetoresistance is sensitive to the angle between magnetic field <i>B</i> and current <i>I</i>. Here we demonstrate the PHE in a topological nodal-line semimetal ZrSiSe device by electric transport measurement. According to our analysis, we conclude that the PHE results from the trivial anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). We argue that there is no inevitability between PHE and chiral anomaly, and some other mechanisms can induce PHE. This work indicates that PHE cannot be considered as evidence of chiral anomaly and one may seek for non-topological origin in such studies.