A Novel Pyrochlore Ruthenate: Ca2Ru2O7

Single crystals of a novel ruthenate, Ca2Ru2O7, were obtained. An X-ray diffraction study on a single crystal revealed that this material crystallizes in a pyrochlore structure with a lattice parameter, a = 10.197 Angstroms. The magnetic susceptibility above 30 K is the summation of a Curie-Weiss contribution and a constant term independent of temperature. The effective moment per Ru atom is only 0.36 Bohr magnetons, one order of magnitude smaller than that expected from a localized spin model with S=3/2 for Ru5+. Below 23 K, the localized spins freeze in a spin-glass state. The resistivity at room temperature is 2E-3 Ohm cm, comparable to that in metallic, highly correlated oxides.}