Magnetic moments and ordered states in pyrochlore iridates Nd2Ir2O7 and Sm2Ir2O7 studied by muon-spin relaxation

Retno Asih*, Noraina Adam, Saidah Sakinah Mohd-Tajudin, Dita Puspita Sari, Kazuyuki Matsuhira, Hanjie Guo, Makoto Wakeshima, Yukio Hinatsu, Takehito Nakano, Yasuo Nozue, Shukri Sulaiman, Mohamad Ismail Mohamed-Ibrahim, Pabitra Kumar Biswas, Isao Watanabe

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Magnetic-ordered states of the pyrochlore iridates Nd2Ir2O7 (Nd227) and Sm2Ir2O7 (Sm227), showing metal-insulator transitions at 33 and 117 K, respectively, were studied by both the muon-spin-relaxation (μSR) method and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A long-range magnetic ordering of Ir moments appeared in conjunction with the metal insulator transition, and additional long-range-ordered states of Nd/Sm moments were confirmed at temperatures below about 10 K. We found that the all-in all-out spin structure most convincingly explained the present μSR results of both Nd227 and Sm227. Observed internal fields were compared with values derived from DFT calculations. The lower limits of the sizes of magnetic moments were estimated to be 0.12 μB and 0.2 μB for Ir and Nd moments in Nd227, and 0.3 μB and 0.1 μB for Ir and Sm moments in Sm227, respectively. Further analysis indicated that the spin coupling between Ir and Nd/Sm moments was ferromagnetic for Nd227 and antiferromagnetic for Sm227.

Original languageEnglish
Article number024705
JournalJournal of the Physical Society of Japan
Volume86
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Magnetic moments and ordered states in pyrochlore iridates Nd2Ir2O7 and Sm2Ir2O7 studied by muon-spin relaxation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this