Trump, BA, Koohpayeh, SM, Livi, KJT et al. (11 more authors) (2018) Universal geometric frustration in pyrochlores. Nature Communications, 9 (1). 2619. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
Materials with the pyrochlore/fluorite structure have diverse technological applications, from magnetism to nuclear waste disposal. Here we report the observation of structural instability present in the pyrochlores A₂Zr₂O₆Oʹ (A = Pr, La) and Yb₂Ti₂O₆Oʹ, that exists despite ideal stoichiometry, ideal cation-ordering, the absence of lone pair effects, and a lack of magnetic order. Though these materials appear to have good long-range order, local structure probes find displacements, of the order of 0.01 nm, within the pyrochlore framework. The pattern of displacements of the A₂Oʹ sublattice mimics the entropically-driven fluxional motions characteristic of and well-known in the silica mineral β-cristobalite. The universality of such displacements within the pyrochlore structure adds to the known structural diversity and explains the extreme sensitivity to composition found in quantum spin ices and the lack of ferroelectric behavior in pyrochlores.
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Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018, The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/D040566/1 EPSRC 01STM01309011 EPSRC n/a EPSRC Not Known EPSRC Not Known Operating Account Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2018 10:33 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:26 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41467-018-05033-7 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:133286 |
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