Magnetoresistance and Fermi Surface Topology of Crystalline Mercury

The results of magnetoresistance experiments on a number of oriented single crystals of mercury are reported. Three distinct types of minima are observed in plots of magnetoresistance versus field direction, and these are attributed to open orbits normal to the planes {100}, $\left\{0\mathrm{}\overline{1}1\right\}$, and {110}. A unique model of the Fermi surface, formulated in terms of the dimensions of the contact regions on the first zone, is derived to explain these data. An eight-plane-wave pseudopotential calculation including spin-orbit coupling is used to obtain a compensated Fermi surface in substantial agreement with this model and with the first-zone de Haas-van Alphen extremal areas.