Nonmonotonic Temperature Dependence of the Thermal Hall Angle of a YBa₂Cu₃O_(6.95) Single Crystal

We have performed high-resolution measurements of the magnetic field (0~T~$ \le B \le 9~$T) and temperature (10 K~$\le T < 140~$K) dependence of the longitudinal and transverse Hall thermal conductivity of a twinned YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6.95}$ single crystal. We have used and compared two recently published methods to extract the thermal Hall angle $\theta_H(T,B)$. Our results indicate that $\cot(\theta_H)$ varies quite accurately as $T^4$ in the intermediate temperature range $\sim 0.3 < T/T_c$. It shows a well defined minimum at $T_m \simeq 20~$K which resembles that observed in the $c$-axis microwave conductivity. The electronic part of the longitudinal and the transverse thermal conductivity show the scaling behavior for transport properties predicted for d-wave superconductors in the temperature range $\sim 18~$K~$\le T \le 30~$K.