Anomalous Nernst Effects in Pyrochlore Molybdates with Spin Chirality

Abstract

The transverse thermoelectric (Nernst) effect on pyrochlore molybdates is investigated experimentally. In Nd(2)Mo(2)O(7) and Sm(2)Mo(2)O(7) with the spin chirality, the Nernst signal, which mostly arises from the transverse heat current (or equivalently the transverse Peltier coefficient alpha(xy)), shows a low-temperature (20-30 K) positive extremum, whereas it is absent in (Gd(0.95)Ca(0.05))(2)Mo(2)O(7) with no single-spin anisotropy of the rare-earth ion and hence with no spin chirality. The correlation between the Hall conductivity sigma(xy) and alpha(xy) in Nd(2)Mo(2)O(7) also indicates the spin chirality plays a significant role in the spontaneous (anomalous) Nernst effect.