Anomalous local lattice disorder and distortion in A2Mo2O7 pyrochlores

Abstract

We present an extended X-ray absorption fine structure study of the pyrochlores AMoO (A = Gd, Dy, Ho, Er), as a function of temperature. While in the three spin-glass compositions DyMoO, HoMoO and ErMoO the Debye temperatures are in accordance with other pyrochlores and the static disorder contributions are compatible with a lattice frustration, in the low-temperature-ferromagnetic GdMoO system we point out an anomalous enhancement of the local structure disorder below about 225 K down to low temperatures. Moreover, considering the general pyrochlore predisposition towards structural disorder, we prove the presence on a local scale of at least a bimodal distribution of the Mo-O(1) octahedral interatomic distances for all the studied compounds, consisting of two shorter and four longer bond lengths. Our results suggest that the local structure order parameter plays an important role in the ferromagnetic or spin-glass phase stabilization.