Anomalous Magnetothermopower in a Metallic Frustrated Antiferromagnet

We report the temperature T and magnetic field H dependence of the thermopower S of an itinerant triangular antiferromagnet PdCrO₂ in high magnetic fields up to 32 T. In the paramagnetic phase, the zero-field thermopower is positive with a value typical of good metals with a high carrier density. In marked contrast to typical metals, however, S decreases rapidly with increasing magnetic field, approaching zero at the maximum field scale for T >70 K . We argue here that this profound change in the thermoelectric response derives from the strong interaction of the 4 d correlated electrons of the Pd ions with the short-range spin correlations of the Cr^{3 +} spins that persist beyond the Néel ordering temperature due to the combined effects of geometrical frustration and low dimensionality.