270 research outputs found
Real space investigation of structural changes at the metal-insulator transition in VO2
Synchrotron X-ray total scattering studies of structural changes in rutile
VO2 at the metal-insulator transition temperature of 340 K reveal that
monoclinic and tetragonal phases of VO2 coexist in equilibrium, as expected for
a first-order phase transition. No evidence for any distinct intermediate phase
is seen. Unbiased local structure studies of the changes in V--V distances
through the phase transition, using reverse Monte Carlo methods, support the
idea of phase coexistence and point to the high degree of correlation in the
dimerized low-temperature structure. No evidence for short range V--V
correlations that would be suggestive of local dimers is found in the metallic
phase.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Spin-induced symmetry breaking in orbitally ordered NiCr_2O_4 and CuCr_2O_4
At room temperature, the normal oxide spinels NiCr_2O_4 and CuCr_2O_4 are
tetragonally distorted and crystallize in the I4_1/amd space group due to
cooperative Jahn-Teller ordering driven by the orbital degeneracy of
tetrahedral Ni () and Cu (). Upon cooling, these
compounds undergo magnetic ordering transitions; interactions being somewhat
frustrated for NiCr_2O_4 but not for CuCr_2O_4. We employ variable-temperature
high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction to establish that at the
magnetic ordering temperatures there are further structural changes, which
result in both compounds distorting to an orthorhombic structure consistent
with the Fddd space group. NiCr_2O_4 exhibits additional distortion, likely
within the same space group, at a yet-lower transition temperature of = 30
K. The tetragonal to orthorhombic structural transition in these compounds
appears to primarily involve changes in NiO_4 and CuO_4 tetrahedra
Understanding complex magnetic order in disordered cobalt hydroxides through analysis of the local structure
In many ostensibly crystalline materials, unit-cell-based descriptions do not
always capture the complete physics of the system due to disruption in
long-range order. In the series of cobalt hydroxides studied here,
Co(OH)(Cl)(HO), magnetic Bragg diffraction reveals a
fully compensated N\'eel state, yet the materials show significant and open
magnetization loops. A detailed analysis of the local structure defines the
aperiodic arrangement of cobalt coordination polyhedra. Representation of the
structure as a combination of distinct polyhedral motifs explains the existence
of locally uncompensated moments and provides a quantitative agreement with
bulk magnetic measurements and magnetic Bragg diffraction
Total scattering descriptions of local and cooperative distortions in the oxide spinel (Mg,Cu)Cr2O4 with dilute Jahn-Teller ions
The normal spinel oxide MgCr2O4 is cubic at room temperature while the normal
spinel CuCr2O4 is tetragonal as a consequence of the Jahn-Teller nature of Cu2+
on the tetrahedral sites. Despite different end-member structures, complete
solid solutions of Mg_{1-x}Cu_xCr2O4 can be prepared that display a first-order
structural transition with composition x = 0.43 at room temperature. Reverse
Monte Carlo analysis of total neutron scattering on data acquired between 300 K
and 15 K on samples with x = 0.10, 0.20, and 0.43 provides unbiased local and
average structure descriptions of the samples, including an understanding of
the transition from local Jahn-Teller distortions in the cubic phase to
cooperative distortions that result in a tetragonal structure. Distributions of
continuous symmetry measures help to understand and distinguish distorted and
undistorted coordination around the tetrahedral site in the solid solutions.
Magnetic exchange bias is observed in field-cooled hysteresis loops of samples
with dilute Cu2+ concentration and in samples with tetragonal--cubic phase
coexistence around 300 K.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure
Exchange biasing of single-domain Ni nanoparticles spontaneously grown in an antiferromagnetic MnO matrix
Exchange biased composites of ferromagnetic single-domain Ni nanoparticles
embedded within large grains of MnO have been prepared by reduction of
NiMnO phases in flowing hydrogen. The Ni precipitates are 15-30
nm in extent, and the majority are completely encased within the MnO matrix.
The manner in which the Ni nanoparticles are spontaneously formed imparts a
high ferromagnetic- antiferromagnetic interface/volume ratio, which results in
substantial exchange bias effects. Exchange bias fields of up to 100 Oe are
observed, in cases where the starting Ni content in the precursor
NiMnO phase is small. For particles of approximately the same
size, the exchange bias leads to significant hardening of the magnetization,
with the coercive field scaling nearly linearly with the exchange bias field.Comment: 6 pages PDFLaTeX with 9 figure
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