Magnetotransport properties of BaRuO₃: Observation of two scattering rates

We report results of low-temperature magnetotransport and Hall measurements on single crystals of four-layered hexagonal (4H) and nine-layered rhombohedral (9R) BaRuO$_3$ that provide insight into the structure-property relationships of BaRuO$_3$ polymorphs. We found that 4H BaRuO$_3$ possesses Fermi-liquid behavior down to the lowest temperature ($T$) of our measurements, 1.8 K. On the other hand, 9R BaRuO$_3$ was found to show a crossover in the temperature dependence of resistivity around 150 K, and the existence of two separate scattering rates at low temperatures. The magnetoresistance in the 9R BaRuO$_3$ was found to be negative while that in the 4H BaRuO$_3$ is positive. We propose that local moments may be present in 9R but not in 4H BaRuO$_3$, which leads to distinctly different behavior in the two forms.