Experimental Electronic Structure of the Metallic Pyrochlore Iridate Bi2Ir2O7

Abstract

Angle-resolved photoemission measurements have been performed on Bi2Ir2O7 single crystals, a prototypical example of the pyrochlore iridates. The density of states, the Fermi surface, and the near Fermi level band dispersion in the plane perpendicular to the (111) direction were all measured and found to be in overall agreement with our LDA + SOC density functional calculations. Our observations indicate the general validity of the LDA + SOC-based approach for the electronic structure of pyrochlore iridates, raising the possibility that some of the novel predicted phases such as quantum spin ice or Weyl Fermion states may exist in this family of compounds.