Phonons and Colossal Thermal Expansion Behavior of Ag3Co(CN)6 and Ag3Fe(CN)6

Recently colossal positive volume thermal expansion has been found in the framework compounds Ag3Co(CN)6 and Ag3Fe(CN)6. Phonon spectra have been measured using the inelastic neutron scattering technique as a function of temperature and pressure. The data has been analyzed using ab-initio calculations. We find that the bonding is very similar in both compounds. At ambient pressure modes in the intermediate frequency part of the vibrational spectra in the Co compound are shifted to slightly higher energies as compared to the Fe compound. The temperature dependence of the phonon spectra gives evidence for large explicit anharmonic contribution to the total anharmonicity for low-energy modes below 5 meV. We found that modes are mainly affected by the change in the size of unit cell, which in turn changes the bond lengths and vibrational frequencies. Thermal expansion has been calculated via the volume dependence of phonon spectra. Our analysis indicates that Ag phonon modes in the energy range from 2 to 5 meV are strongly anharmonic and major contributors to thermal expansion in both compounds. The application of pressure hardens the low-energy part of the phonon spectra involving Ag vibrations and confirms the highly anharmonic nature of these modes.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures and one tabl

Magnetic Lattice Dynamics of the Oxygen-Free FeAs Pnictides: How Sensitive are Phonons to Magnetic Ordering?

To shed light on the role of magnetism on the superconducting mechanism of the oxygen-free FeAs pnictides, we investigate the effect of magnetic ordering on phonon dynamics in the low-temperature orthorhombic parent compounds, which present a spin-density wave. The study covers both the 122 (AFe2As2; A=Ca, Sr, Ba) and 1111 (AFeAsF; A=Ca, Sr) phases. We extend our recent work on the Ca (122 and 1111) and Ba (122) cases by treating computationally and experimentally the 122 and 1111 Sr compounds. The effect of magnetic ordering is investigated through detailed non-magnetic and magnetic lattice dynamical calculations. The comparison of the experimental and calculated phonon spectra shows that the magnetic interactions/ordering have to be included in order to reproduce well the measured density of states. This highlights a spin-correlated phonon behavior which is more pronounced than the apparently weak electron-phonon coupling estimated in these materials. Furthermore, there is no noticeable difference between phonon spectra of the 122 Ba and Sr, whereas there are substantial differences when comparing these to CaFe2As2 originating from different aspects of structure and bonding