Drastic enhancement of magnetic critical temperature and amorphization in topological magnet EuSn2P2 under pressure

High pressure is an effective tool to induce exotic quantum phenomena in magnetic topological insulators by controlling the interplay of magnetic order and topological state. This work presents a comprehensive high-pressure study of the crystal structure and magnetic ground state up to 62 GPa in an intrinsic topological magnet EuSn2P2. With a combination of high resolution X-ray diffraction, Eu-151 synchrotron Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, molecular orbital calculations, and electronic band structure calculations, it has been revealed that pressure drives EuSn2P2 from a rhombohedral crystal to an amorphous phase at 36 GPa accompanied by a fourfold enhancement of magnetic ordering temperature. In the pressure-induced amorphous phase, Eu ions take an intermediate valence state. The drastic enhancement of magnetic ordering temperature from 30 K at ambient pressure to 130 K at 41.2 GPa resulting from Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions likely attributes to the stronger Eu-Sn interaction at high pressure. These rich results demonstrate that EuSn2P2 is an ideal platform to study the correlation of the enhanced RKKY interactions, disordered lattice, intermediate valence, and topological state.

Automated summary

This study presents a comprehensive high-pressure investigation of the crystal structure and magnetic ground state of the intrinsic topological magnet EuSn2P2. The results reveal that pressure induces a phase transition in EuSn2P2 from a rhombohedral crystal structure to an amorphous phase, accompanied by an enhancement of the magnetic ordering temperature. It is also found that the pressure-induced amorphous phase leads to an intermediate valence state of the Eu ions and further increases the magnetic ordering temperature.