Suppression of Thermal Conductivity via Singlet-Dominated Scattering in TmFeO${}_3$

Abstract

We measured the thermal conductivity of the rare-earth orthoferrites, $R$FeO${}_3$, where $R$ = Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb from 3 K to 300 K and see an anomalous strong suppression for TmFeO${}_3$ over most of the temperature range. Using a Debye thermal transport model, we demonstrate that this suppression is due to resonant scattering between phonons and the Tm${}^{3+}$ $4f$ singlet crystal field levels. The implications of these results are discussed in context of thermal conductivity studies in quantum magnets.

Manuscript: 18 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Supplemental: 7 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

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