Local structure of Mott insulating iron oxychalcogenides La2 O2Fe2 OM2(M= S, Se)

We describe the local structural properties of the iron oxychalcogenides, La2O2Fe2OM2(M=S,Se), by using pair distribution function analysis applied to total scattering data. Our results from neutron powder diffraction show that M = S and Se possess similar nuclear structures at low and room temperatures. The local crystal structures were studied by investigating deviations in atomic positions and the extent of the formation of orthorhombicity. Analysis of the total scattering data suggests that buckling of the Fe2O plane occurs below 100 K. The buckling may occur concomitantly with a change in octahedral height. Furthermore, within a typical range of 1-2 nm, we observed a short-range orthorhombiclike structure suggestive of nematic fluctuations in both of these materials

Experimental evidence for bipolaron condensation as a mechanism for the metal-insulator transition in rare-earth nickelates

Rare-earth nickelates undergo a metal-to-insulator transition accompanied by the formation of ordered lattice distortions, but the role of the lattice in the metallic phase remains unclear. Here the authors provide evidence that the metal is a polaronic liquid that freezes into the insulating state

Ultrafast X-ray probing of water structure below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature

Water has a number of anomalous physical properties, and some of these become drastically enhanced on supercooling below the freezing point. Particular interest has focused on thermodynamic response functions that can be described using a normal component and an anomalous component that seems to diverge at about 228 kelvin. This has prompted debate about conflicting theories that aim to explain many of the anomalous thermodynamic properties of water. One popular theory attributes the divergence to a phase transition between two forms of liquid water occurring in the ‘no man’s land’ that lies below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature (TH) at approximately 232 kelvin and above about 160 kelvin, and where rapid ice crystallization has prevented any measurements of the bulk liquid phase. In fact, the reliable determination of the structure of liquid water typically requires temperatures above about 250 kelvin. Water crystallization has been inhibited by using nanoconfinement, nanodroplets and association with biomolecules to give liquid samples at temperatures below TH, but such measurements rely on nanoscopic volumes of water where the interaction with the confining surfaces makes the relevance to bulk water unclear18. Here we demonstrate that femtosecond X-ray laser pulses can be used to probe the structure of liquid water in micrometre-sized droplets that have been evaporatively cooled below TH. We find experimental evidence for the existence of metastable bulk liquid water down to temperatures of  kelvin in the previously largely unexplored no man’s land. We observe a continuous and accelerating increase in structural ordering on supercooling to approximately 229 kelvin, where the number of droplets containing ice crystals increases rapidly. But a few droplets remain liquid for about a millisecond even at this temperature. The hope now is that these observations and our detailed structural data will help identify those theories that best describe and explain the behaviour of water