Spin-carrier coupling induced ferromagnetism and giant resistivity peak in EuCd2P2

Eu⁢Cd2⁢P2 is notable for its unconventional transport: upon cooling the metallic resistivity changes slope and begins to increase, ultimately 100-fold, before returning to its metallic value. Surprisingly, this giant peak occurs at 18 K, well above the Néel temperature (𝑇𝑁) of 11.5 K. Using a suite of sensitive probes of magnetism, including resonant x-ray scattering and magneto-optical polarimetry, we have discovered that ferromagnetic order onsets above 𝑇𝑁 in the temperature range of the resistivity peak. The observation of inverted hysteresis in this regime shows that ferromagnetism is promoted by coupling of localized spins and itinerant carriers. The resulting carrier localization is confirmed by optical conductivity measurements.