Dilute stuffing in the pyrochlore iridate $Eu_2Ir_2O_7$

TL;DR

This study investigates how slight Eu-stuffing at the Ir-site in Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ affects its resistivity behavior and magnetic ordering, revealing that stoichiometry influences the metal-insulator transition and resistivity slope.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Eu-stuffing levels alter the resistivity slope and transition temperatures, clarifying sample dependence issues in Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$.

Findings

Resistivity slope sign depends on Eu-stuffing level.

Stoichiometry influences the metal-insulator transition.

Antiferromagnetic order persists across samples.

Abstract

The pyrochlore Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ has recently attracted significant attention as a candidate Weyl semimetal. The previous reports on this compound unanimously show a thermally induced metal to insulator (MI) transition, concomitant with antiferromagnetic (AFM) long-range ordering of the Ir-moments below T$_\textit{N} \sim $120 K. However, there are contradictory reports concerning the slope d$\rho/$dT of the resistivity plots ($\rho$) in the "metallic" state above the metal-insulator (MI) transition, and the value of $\rho$ in the insulating state, both of which show significant sample dependence. Here, we explore this issue by investigating six different Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ samples with slightly varying Eu:Ir ratio. High-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction are done to probe minor variations in the cell parameters of the various Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ samples investigated here. Specific heat (C$ _p $) and magnetic susceptibility of all the samples showed long-range antiferromagnetic ordering upon cooling below T$ _\textit{N} \sim $120 K. The transitions are, however, found to be smeared out for the off-stoichiometric samples. We show that the sign of d$\rho/$dT above the metal-insulator (MI) transition is highly sensitive to the unit cell length, which, in turn, depends on the level of Eu-stuffing at the Ir-site. Samples with composition close to the ideal stoichiometry (Eu : Ir $ = $ 1) showed a change of sign of d$\rho/$dT from negative to positive upon cooling below a certain temperature T $^*$ $>$ T$_\textit{MI}$. With increasing Eu-stuffing T$ ^* $ decreased until a negative d$\rho/$dT persisted without any sign change down to T$_\textit{MI}$.