Low-temperature thermopower study of YbRh2Si2
arXiv:0807.3420 · doi:10.1088/1742-6596/150/4/042049
Abstract
The heavy-fermion compound YbRh2Si2 exhibits an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition at an extremely low temperature of TN = 70 mK. Upon applying a tiny magnetic field of Bc = 60 mT the AFM ordering is suppressed and the system is driven toward a field-induced quantum critical point (QCP). Here, we present low-temperature thermopower S(T) measurements of high-quality YbRh2Si2 single crystals down to 30 mK. S(T) is found negative with comparably large values in the paramagnetic state. In zero field no Landau-Fermi-liquid (LFL) like behavior is observed within the magnetically ordered phase. However, a sign change from negative to positive appears at lowest temperatures on the magnetic side of the QCP. For higher fields B > Bc a linear extrapolation of S to zero clearly evidences the recovery of LFL regime. The crossover temperature is sharply determined and coincides perfectly with the one derived from resistivity and specific heat investigations.
LT25 conference proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series