Separation of the Electronic and Lattice Thermal Conductivities in Bismuth Crystals

The thermal conductivity of pure bismuth in a very high magnetic field has a contribution from the transverse thermomagnetic effects that is not negligible compared with the lattice contribution. It is demonstrated, however, that the lattice component in the binary direction can be determined accurately from measurements of the total thermal conductivity with a high magnetic field in the bisectrix and trigonal directions. Such measurements have shown that the lattice conductivity of bismuth is strictly inversely proportional to the absolute temperature in the range 35 to 140 K, and have allowed the electronic contribution to be evaluated.