We measured the thermal conductivity of the rare-earth orthoferrites, $R{\mathrm{FeO}}_3$, where $R=\mathrm{Eu}$, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb from 3 to 300 K and see an anomalous strong suppression for ${\mathrm{TmFeO}}_3$ over most of the temperature range. Using a Debye thermal transport model, we demonstrate that this suppression is due to resonant scattering between phonons and the ${\mathrm{Tm}}^{3+}$ $4f$ singlet crystal field levels. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of thermal conductivity studies in quantum magnets.

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• Magnetism
• Specific heat
• Spin-phonon coupling
• Spinon
• Thermal conductivity
• Magnetic insulators
• Rare-earth magnetic materials