Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026

Advanced Experimental Methods for Low-temperature Magnetotransport Measurement of Novel Materials
Published on: January 21, 2016
RKKY interactions and the anomalous Hall effect in metallic rare-earth pyrochlores
SungBin Lee1, Arun Paramekanti, Yong Baek Kim
1Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.
Abstract:
Motivated by experiments on Pr2Ir2O7, we consider metallic pyrochlore systems A2B2O7, where the A sites are occupied by rare-earth local moments and the B sites host 5d transition metal ions with itinerant strongly spin-orbit coupled electrons. Assuming non-Kramers doublets on the A site, we derive the RKKY interaction between them mediated by the B-site itinerant electrons and find extended non-Heisenberg interactions. Analyzing a simplified model of the RKKY interaction, we uncover a local moment phase with coexisting spiral Ising-like magnetic dipolar and XY-like quadrupolar ordering. This state breaks time-reversal and lattice symmetries, and reconstructs the B-site electronic band structure, producing a Weyl metallic phase with an intrinsic anomalous Hall effect and an undetectably small magnetization. We discuss implications of our results for Pr2Ir2O7.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
The Hall Effect
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
Ferromagnetism
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Valence Bond Theory
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than...

