Pressure induced magnetic and semiconductor–metal phase transitions in Cr2MoO6**Project supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. 2015XKMS073).

Abstract

We investigate magnetic ordering and electronic structures of Cr2MoO6 under hydrostatic pressure. To overcome the band gap problem, the modified Becke and Johnson exchange potential is used to investigate the electronic structures of Cr2MoO6. The insulating nature at the experimental crystal structure is produced, with a band gap of 1.04 eV, and the magnetic moment of the Cr atom is 2.50 μB, compared to an experimental value of about 2.47 μB. The calculated results show that an antiferromagnetic inter-bilayer coupling–ferromagnetic intra-bilayer coupling to a ferromagnetic inter-bilayer coupling–antiferromagnetic intra-bilayer coupling phase transition is produced with the pressure increasing. The magnetic phase transition is simultaneously accompanied by a semiconductor–metal phase transition. The magnetic phase transition can be explained by the Mo–O hybridization strength, and ferromagnetic coupling between two Cr atoms can be understood by empty Mo-d bands perturbing the nearest O-p orbital.