Structural and Magnetic Studies of Metal-Insulator Transition in Thiospinel CuIr_<b>2</b>S_<b>4</b>

Abstract

Crystal structure and magnetic susceptibility were investigated for a thiospinel compound CuIr 2 S 4 , which exhibits a transition from metallic to insulating on cooling at the transition temperature T c of 230 K. It was found that the transition is accompanied by a first-order structural transition. As the compound is cooled through T c , the structure transforms from cubic to tetragonal with a volume contraction of 0.7%. The tetragonal phase has an axial ratio of about 1.03. Magnetic susceptibility, which is paramagnetic in the metallic region, decreases sharply and becomes diamagnetic at T c on cooling. The susceptibility is mostly temperature independent in each region above and below T c . Magnetic measurements also revealed that high pressure stabilizes the insulating phase, in contrast with most of the compounds that exhibit metal-insulator transitions. Possible mechanisms of the metal-insulator transition are discussed.