Hall effect and symmetry breaking in the nonmagnetic metal LuB12 with dynamic charge stripes

Abstract

A comprehensive study of magnetoresistance and Hall effect has been performed for the set of the single crystals of non-magnetic metal LuB12 with the Jahn-Teller instability of the boron cage and dynamic charge stripes forming along <110> direction. Anomalous positive contribution to Hall effect for particular direction of magnetic field H//[001] is found in the single crystals of LuB12 of the highest quality. This contribution arising at T~ 150 K is shown to increase drastically when approaching the disordered ground state below 60 K. The Hall effect anomaly is shown to appear in combination with the peak of magnetoresistance. The various scenarios allowing for the topology of Fermi surface, anisotropy of relaxation time for charge carriers and the filamentary structure of fluctuating charge stripes are proposed to explain the features of magnetotransport in this metal with inhomogeneous distribution of electron density. The origin of SdH oscillations, which are observed in this non-equilibrium metal with electron phase separation and strong charge carrier scattering, is discussed.