Magnetotransport as a probe of phase transformations in metallic antiferromagnets: The case of UIrS i3

The electrical resistance, Hall resistance, and thermoelectric power of the Ising-like antiferromagnet UIrSi3 were measured as functions of temperature and magnetic field. We have observed that the unequivocally different characters of first-order and second-order magnetic phase transitions lead to distinctly different magnetotransport properties in the neighborhood of corresponding critical temperatures and magnetic fields, respectively. The magnetic contributions to the electrical and Hall resistivity in the antiferromagnetic state, and the polarized and normal regimes of paramagnetic state are driven by different underlying mechanisms. Results of detailed measurements of magnetotransport in the vicinity of the tricritical point reveal that the Hall-resistivity steps at phase transitions change polarity just at this point. The jumps in field dependences of specific heat, electrical resistivity, Hall resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient at the first-order metamagnetic transitions indicate a Fermi surface reconstruction, which is characteristic of a magnetic-field-induced Lifshitz transition. The presented results emphasize the usefulness of measurements of electrical- and thermal-transport properties as sensitive probes of magnetic phase transformations in antiferromagnets sometimes hardly detectable by other methods.