Unified description of resistivity and thermopower of Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$: possible influence of crystal field excitation in a Kondo lattice

Abstract

We present experimental evidence of incoherent Kondo scattering as the source of resistivity minima in bulk polycrystalline and nanocrystalline Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$. The temperature dependence of thermopower shows a positive maximum at high temperature followed by a negative minimum at low temperature, with the sign inversion occurring at a much higher temperature than $T_K$. Moreover, we observe little correlation between TK and intersite coupling strength given by $\theta_{CW}$. We describe the temperature dependence of thermopower and resistivity within the framework of crystal field excitation in a Kondo lattice.