Experimental observation of two types of linear magnetoresistance in topological crystalline insulator heterostructures

We report magnetotransport studies of topological crystalline insulator (TCI) heterostructures SnTe/PbTe and SnTe/PbTe/SnTe grown by molecular beam epitaxy. A giant linear magnetoresistance up to 1715% was observed in SnTe/PbTe heterostructure, which is correlated with the topological surface states in SnTe. A large linear magnetoresistance (order of 10(2)%) is exhibited in SnTe/PbTe/SnTe heterostructures. The large linear magnetoresistance may be attributed to the structural disorder of SnTe induced by the random arrangement of Pb atoms in SnTe crystalline lattice. The findings of these two types of linear magnetoresistance are of great importance to magnetoelectronics and spintronics based on the TCI heterostructure.