The pyrochlore Eu2βIr2βO7β 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 TNββΌ120 K. However, there are contradictory reports
concerning the slope dΟ/dT of the resistivity plots (Ο) in the
"metallic" state above the metal-insulator (MI) transition, and the value of
Ο in the insulating state, both of which show significant sample
dependence. Here, we explore this issue by investigating six different
Eu2βIr2βO7β 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 Eu2βIr2βO7β samples investigated here. Specific
heat (Cpβ) and magnetic susceptibility of all the samples showed long-range
antiferromagnetic ordering upon cooling below TNββΌ120 K. The
transitions are, however, found to be smeared out for the off-stoichiometric
samples. We show that the sign of dΟ/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 dΟ/dT
from negative to positive upon cooling below a certain temperature T β>
TMIβ. With increasing Eu-stuffing Tβ decreased until a negative
dΟ/dT persisted without any sign change down to TMIβ.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure