All-in all-out magnetic order and propagating spin-waves in Sm2Ir2O7

Abstract

Using resonant magnetic x-ray scattering we address the unresolved nature of the magnetic groundstate and the low-energy effective Hamiltonian of Sm$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$, a prototypical pyrochlore iridate with a finite temperature metal-insulator transition. Through a combination of elastic and inelastic measurements, we show that the magnetic ground state is an all-in all-out (AIAO) antiferromagnet. The magnon dispersion indicates significant electronic correlations and can be well-described by a minimal Hamiltonian that includes Heisenberg exchange ($J=27.3(6)$ meV) and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction ($D=4.9(3)$ meV), which provides a consistent description of the magnetic order and excitations. In establishing that Sm$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ has the requisite inversion symmetry preserving AIAO magnetic groundstate, our results support the notion that pyrochlore iridates may host correlated Weyl semimetals.