Magnetic and electronic anisotropy in single crystalline YMn4Al8

Abstract

On a single crystal of YMn4Al8, we investigated specific heat and temperature-dependent magnetization M(T) and resistivity rho(T) with field and current, respectively, parallel and perpendicular to the c axis. A few features are observed on single crystals and not on polycrystalline samples. While we found no noticeable anisotropy in M(T), there is a significant anisotropy in rho(T), i.e., rho(parallel to)(T)>rho(perpendicular to)(T) for T>43 K and rho(parallel to)(T)<rho(perpendicular to)(T) for T < 43 K, where rho(parallel to)(T) and rho(perpendicular to)(T) are rho(T)&apos;s with current parallel and perpendicular to the c axis, respectively. In addition, a significant increase of gamma, an electronic specific heat contribution, is found at low temperatures, resulting in gamma(T=2 K)=130 mJ/mol K-2. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.