Magnetic field dependences of the Hall coefficient R_{H} and resistivity have been studied in detail for dilute magnetic compounds La_{1-x}Ce_{x}B_6 (x ≤ 0.1) at temperatures 1.8-300 K. It was established that the regime of weak localization of charge carriers, which was observed in these heavy fermion systems below 30 K destroys gradually in magnetic field up to 8 T. Moreover, in addition to the strong negative magnetoresistance (Δρ/ρ ≈ 80%) a drastic enhancement of the negative Hall coefficient in magnetic field (Δ R_{H}/R_{H} ≈ 50%) has been deduced at liquid helium temperatures. The results of comprehensive analysis contradict the predictions of Kondo-impurity approach for this archetypal strongly correlated electron system in the dilute impurity limit. An alternative interpretation of La_{1-x}Ce_{x}B_6 properties is developed on the basis of spin-polaron approach, Pauli paramagnetism and the density of states renormalization effects at low temperatures.
In the system Tm_{1 - x}Yb_{x}B_{12} the specific heat has been studied in a wide range of Yb-concentration in the vicinity of the quantum critical point x_{C} ≈ 0.3. The results were obtained on high quality single crystalline samples of Tm_{0.7}Yb_{0.3}B_{12} compound placed near quantum critical point, both for antiferromagnetic metals (x < x_{C}) as well as for paramagnetic insulators (x > x_{C}) within a wide temperature range of 1.9-300 K in magnetic field up to 9 T. The temperature dependence of the magnetic contribution to specific heat for Tm_{0.74}Yb_{0.26}B_{12} shows a logarithmic divergence of the form C_{mag}/T∿-lnT at T<4 K, which may be attributed to the quantum critical regime, and it is suppressed by strong external magnetic field. The Schottky anomaly of the magnetic contribution to specific heat in Tm_{1 - x}Yb_{x}B_{12} has been established and analyzed in detail.
High precision measurements of the Seebeck coefficient S(T) were carried out on the single crystals of RB_{12} (R = Ho, Er, Tm, Lu) at temperatures 2-300 K. It was shown that the effects of phonon drag result from vibrations of rare earth ions (ħω_E≈10-33 meV) in the rigid framework structure of the B_{12} clusters and determine the main contribution to thermopower at intermediate temperatures (30-300 K). The correlated behavior of transport parameters favors the appreciable enhancement of spin fluctuations in the sequence of magnetic compounds (HoB_{12}-TmB_{12}) when approaching to the valence instability state in YbB_{12}. The giant increase in S(T) detected in the vicinity of the Néel temperature T_N for HoB_{12}, ErB_{12}, and TmB_{12} seems to result from the density of states renormalization caused by antiferromagnetic ordering.
Resistivity, Hall and Seebeck effects have been studied on single crystals of Ca_{1-x}Eu_{x}B_{6} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) at temperatures 2-300 K and in magnetic fields up to 8 T. An insulating ground state is found to be limited by narrow range of Eu doping 0.6 ≤ x ≤ 0.8. This region is characterized by an enhanced colossal magnetoresistance (CMR), which reaches values of ρ(0)/ρ(7T) > 10^{6} for x = 0.63 at T < 10 K. Decreasing of Eu content in Ca_{1-x}Eu_{x}B_{6} below x* ≈ 0.6 restores the metallic ground state with moderate resistivity (ρ ~ 1 ÷ 5 mΩ·cm) and CMR amplitude (ρ(0)/ρ(7T) < 7). The second metal-insulator transition (MIT) in Ca_{1-x}Eu_{x}B_{6} is observed beyond the whole conductivity region found earlier in the narrow range of Eu doping (0.7 ≤ x ≤ 0.8). The correlation between the enhanced CMR amplitude, the onset of positive diffusive thermopower and the elevation of anomalous Hall effect, determined for Eu content 0.6 ≤ x ≤ 0.85, favors the idea that a smooth change of band structure is the main factor governing the reentrant MIT in Ca_{1-x}Eu_{x}B_{6}.
Transport, magnetic and thermal properties of substitutional solid solution Eu_{1 - x}Ca_{x}B_6 single crystals (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.244) have been studied at 1.8 ≤ T ≤ 300 K and in magnetic fields up to 8 T. Calcium doping is shown to result in a metal-insulator transition, which occurs at x_{MIT} ≈ 0.2. In vicinity of metal-insulator transition the effect of colossal magnetoresistance is found to be very sensitive to Ca content, the amplitude varying from Δ = [ ρ (0)- ρ (8T)]/ρ(8T) ≈1.4×10^2 to Δ ≈ 7.5 × 10^3 for 0.14 ≤ x ≤ 0.16. The analysis of magnetic contribution to heat capacity shows that a large amount of magnetic entropy ( ≈ 30%) releases in Eu_{0.845}Ca_{0.155}B_6 when moving from the Curie temperature T_{C} ≈ 5.5 K to the characteristic one T* ≈ 30 K. This observation as well as the large amplitude of low field colossal magnetoresistance effect and the deviation of magnetic susceptibility from the Curie-Weiss law detected for x = 0.155 compound in the interval T_{C} ≤ T ≤ T* seem to be associated with magnetic phase separation induced by Ca doping.
The antiferromagnetic ground state has been studied by transverse magnetoresistance, heat capacity and magnetization measurements, which were carried out on high quality single crystals of Tm_{0.996}Yb_{0.004}B_{12} dodecaboride in strong magnetic fields at liquid helium temperatures. Both antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic (AF-P) and spin-orientation (AF1-AF2) phase transitions have been observed, and allowed to construct a complicated magnetic H-T phase diagram for this compound. Strong magnetoresistance anisotropy was found both in AF states (ρ(H||[110])/ρ(H||[111])~ 1.2 at H~ 20 kOe) and at the critical field of AF-P transition (H_{N}[100]/H_{N}[111]~ 1.25) in this magnetic metal with a simple fcc crystal structure.
We present results of precision measurements of magnetoresistance of isotopically pure Ho¹¹B₁₂ at low temperatures 2÷10 K in magnetic field up to 80 kOe of different orientation to the crystal axes. The data obtained revealed strong anisotropy of magnetoresistance and allowed us to reconstruct magnetic H-T phase diagrams for main crystallographic directions H || [001], [110], and [111]. Analysis of magnetoresistance derivatives allowed to conclude in favor of two main magnetoresistance contributions. Among of them the negative quadratic component is attributed to charge carriers scattering on a magnetic clusters of Ho³⁺ ions (4f component) and positive linear one may be explained in terms of scattering on a spin density waves (5d component).
The anisotropy of charge transport was investigated in the antiferromagnetic II state of GdB₆ from precise measurements of transverse magnetoresistance. Based on the data obtained we detected a complicated behavior of magnetoresistance curves which are characterized by the appearance of considerable hysteresis on the field and angular dependences below T_{N2}. Moreover it was shown that the system GdB₆ is sensitive to cooling-warming prehistory. The data analysis allowed to reconstruct magnetic H-T phase diagram of GdB₆ along main crystallographic directions (H||⟨001⟩,⟨110⟩,⟨111⟩) and to propose additional phase transition inside AF II phase at H₁ ≈ 0.5 T.
We probed the evolution of the superconducting transition temperature T_c and the normal state parameters of Lu_xZr_{1-x}B_{12} solid solutions employing resistivity, heat capacity and magnetization measurements. In these studies of high-quality single crystals it was found that there are two types of samples with different magnetic characteristics. An unusually strong suppression of superconductivity in Lu_xZr_{1-x}B_{12} with a rate dT_c/dx=0.21 K/at.% of Lu was observed previously on the first "magnetic" set of crystals, and it was argued to be caused by the emergence of static spin polarization in the vicinity of non-magnetic lutetium ions. On the contrary, the second (current) set of "nonmagnetic" crystals demonstrates a conventional T_c(x) dependence with a rate dT_c/dx=0.12 K/at.% of Lu which is typical for BCS-type superconductors doped by nonmagnetic impurities. The reason for this difference is yet unclear. Moreover, the H-T phase diagram of the superconducting state of Lu_xZr_{1-x}B_{12} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solutions has been deduced from magnetization measurements.
High precision measurements of magnetoresistance Δρ/ρ = f(T,H) and magnetization M(T,H) were carried out on single crystals of rare-earth dodecaboride ErB_{12} at temperatures in the interval 1.8-30 K in magnetic fields up to 70 kOe. The high accuracy of the experiments allowed us to perform numerical differentiation and analyze quantitatively the behavior of the derivative d(Δρ/ρ)/dH = f(T,H) and of the magnetic susceptibility χ(T,H) = dM/dH in paramagnetic and magnetically ordered (antiferromagnetic, T_N ≈ 6.7 K and T_M ≈ 5.85 K) phases of ErB_{12}. It was shown that negative magnetoresistance anomalies observed in present study in paramagnetic state of ErB_{12} may be consistently interpreted in the framework of a simple relation between resistivity and magnetization -Δρ/ρ ~ M^2.
The specific heat of high quality La^{N}B_{6} (N=10, 11, natural) single crystals is investigated in a wide range of temperatures 2 - 300 K. The obtained data allow to estimate correctly (i) the electronic γ· T term of specific heat (γ ≈ 2.4 mJ/(mol·K^{2})), (ii) the contribution from quasilocal vibrating mode of La^{3+} ions (Θ_{E} ≈ 150 - 152 K), (iii) the Debye-type term from rigid boron cages (Θ_{D} ≈ 1160± 40 K). Our data also suggest an additional defect-mode component (iv) which may be attributed to a contribution of 1.5% boron vacancies in LaB_{6}. The obtained results may be interpreted in terms of formation of two level systems, which appear when La^{3+} ions are displaced from their centrosymmetric positions in the cavities of rigid boron cages, apart from randomly distributed boron vacancies in the LaB_{6} matrix.
The Hall effect of GdB_{6} has been studied on high quality single crystals in the temperature range 2-150 K and in magnetic field of 1 T. The obtained data allow to detect anomalies in the antiferromagnetic (AF) phase including (i) a drastic enhancement of negative Hall coefficient below T_{N1} ≈ 15.5 K and (ii) the appearance of an anomalous Hall effect at T_{N2} ≈ 4.7 K. Possible scenarios of the AF ground state formation are discussed.
Transport and magnetic properties of polycrystalline Tm_{0.03}Yb_{0.97}B₁₂ samples were investigated at temperatures 1.8-300 K in magnetic fields up to 9 T. The activated behavior of resistivity, the Hall coefficient and thermopower is described in terms of a narrow gap ε_g ≈ 16.6 meV, which controls the charge transport in Tm_{0.03}Yb_{0.97}B₁₂ at T>40 K. The maximum of magnetic susceptibility found at 50 K is shown to be induced by a spin gap Δ ≈ 4.7 meV being close to the half of the spin fluctuation energy in YbB₁₂. Large diffusive thermopower S=AT, A=-29.1 μV/K² and the Pauli susceptibility χ₀ ≈ 7.2×10¯³ emu/mol found below 20 K seem to be associated with the many-body resonance, which corresponds to states with an enhanced effective mass m* ≈ 250m₀ (m₀ - free electron mass). The effective parameters of magnetic centers and the analysis of anomalies favor the nonequivalent states of substitute Tm ions.
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