Non-Fermi liquid behavior in the magnetotransport of CeMIn5 (M: Co and Rh): Striking similarity between quasi two-dimensional heavy fermion and high-Tc cuprates

We present a systematic study of the dc-resistivity, Hall effect, and magnetoresistance in the normal state of quasi two-dimensional (2D) heavy fermion superconductors CeMIn5 (M:Rh and Co) under pressure. Here the electronic system evolves with pressure from an antiferromagnetic (AF) metal, through a highly unconventional non-Fermi liquid, and finally into a Fermi-liquid state. The novelty of these materials is best highlighted when compared with LaMIn5, a system with similar electronic structures, which shows a nearly temperature independent Hall coefficient and a magnetoresistance which is well described by the classical Kohler's rule. In sharp contrast, in CeMIn5, the amplitude of the Hall coefficient increases dramatically with decreasing temperature, reaching at low temperatures a value significantly larger than 1/ne, where n is the carrier number. Furthermore, the magnetoresistance is characterized by T- and H-dependence which clearly violate Kohler's rule. We found that the cotangent of the Hall angle cotΘH varies as T2, and the magnetoresistance is well scaled by the Hall angle as Δρxx/ρxx ∝ tan2ΘH. These non-Fermi liquid properties in the electron transport are remarkably pronounced when the AF fluctuations are enhanced in the vicinity of the quantum critical point. We lay particular emphasis on the striking resemblance of these anomalous magnetotransport with those of the high-Tc cuprates. We argue that features commonly observed in quasi 2D heavy fermion and cuprates very likely capture universal features of strongly correlated electron systems in the presence of strong AF fluctuations, holding the promise of bridging our understanding of heavy fermion systems and high-Tc cuprates. (author)