  The effect of vortices on quasiparticle transport in cuprate superconductors
was investigated by measuring the low temperature thermal conductivity of
YBa_2Cu_3O_6.9 in magnetic fields up to 8 T. The residual linear term (as T \to
0) is found to increase with field, directly reflecting the occupation of
extended quasiparticle states. A study for different Zn impurity concentrations
reveals a good agreement with recent calculations for a d-wave superconductor,
thereby shedding light on the nature of scattering by both impurities and
vortices. It also provides a quantitative measure of the gap near the nodes.
