Anomalous charge transport in CeB6

The comprehensive study of conductivity σ, Hall coefficient RH and Seebeck coefficient S has been carried out on high-quality single crystals of CeB6 in a wide range of temperatures 1.8–300 K. An anomalous behavior of all transport characteristics (σ, RH, S) was found for the first time in the vicinity of T*≈80 K. The strong decrease of conductivity σ as well as the unusual asymptotic behavior of Seebeck coefficient S(T)∼−ln T observed below T* allowed us to conclude in favor of crossover between different regimes of charge transport in CeB6. The pronounced change of Hall mobility μH, which diminishes from the maximum value of 20 cm2/(V s) at T* to the values of ∼6 cm2/(V s) at T∼10 K, seems to be attributed to the strong enhancement of charge carriers scattering due to fast spin fluctuations on Ce-sites. The low-temperature anomalies of the charge transport characteristics are compared with the predictions of the Kondo-lattice model.

Temperature dependences of the Hall mobility μH(T)μH(T) and effective mass meff in CeB6.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide