Large magnetoresistance over an extended temperature regime in monophosphides of tantalum and niobium

We report extremely large magnetoresistance (MR) in an extended temperature regime from 1.5 K to 300 K in nonmagnetic binary compounds TaP and NbP. TaP exhibits linear MR around 1.8 x 10(4) at 2 K in a magnetic field of 9 T, which further follows its linearity up to 1.4 x 10(5) in a magnetic field of 56 T at 1.5 K. At room temperature the MR for TaP and NbP follows a power law of the exponent about 1.5 with the values larger than 300% in a magnetic field of 9 T. Such large MR in a wide temperature regime is likely not only due to a resonance of the electron-hole balance, but also indicates a complicated mechanism underneath.