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$_textit{MI}$.
Download