Electronic transport in the ferromagnetic pyrochlore Lu2V2O7: Role of magnetization

This paper reports on a study of the resistivity and Hall effect of the ferromagnetic pyrochlore Lu2V2O7. The temperature dependence of the resistivity of single crystalline Lu2V2O7 exhibits overall activation behavior with a metalliclike exception at intermediate temperatures near the Curie temperature (TC). This temperature dependence bears a surprising resemblance to that of doped semiconductors. The ferromagnetic oxide shows a negative magnetoresistance (MR) which scales quadratically with the reduced magnetization at temperatures above TC; however, the scaling factor is significantly smaller than the value expected for a ferromagnetic system in the pure spin scattering regime, which suggests that other scattering processes may be at work. Concomitant with the negative MR, a distinct switch in the Hall resistivity slope is observed at temperatures near TC. Our analysis suggests that the nonlinear Hall effect is associated with a change in the effective carrier density at a constant critical magnetization induced by an external magnetic field. We argue that within a picture that incorporates high temperature activation transport with a magnetization-driven charge percolation transition, the observed complex electronic transport in the ferromagnetic pyrochlore can be quantitatively described.