It is now known that in addition to electrons, other quasi-particles such as phonons and magnons can also generate a thermal Hall signal. Graphite is a semimetal with extremely mobile charge carriers of both signs and a large lattice thermal conductivity. We present a study of the thermal Hall effect in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) samples with electronic, phononic and phonon drag contributions to the thermal Hall signal. The measured thermal Hall conductivity ($\kappa_{ xy}$) is two orders of magnitude higher than what is expected by electronic carriers according to the electrical Hall conductivity and the Wiedemann-Franz law, yielding a record Hall Lorenz number of $164.9\times10^{ -8}V^2 K^{ -2}$ ($\sim$67$L_0$) - the largest ever observed in a metal. The temperature dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity significantly differs from its longitudinal counterpart, ruling out a purely phononic origin of the non-electronic component. Based on the temperature dependence and the amplitudes of the Seebeck and Nernst responses, we demonstrate that ambipolar phonon drag dominates the thermal Hall response of graphite.
Categories: cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.str-el