TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural phase transition in the spin gap system YbAl3C 3
AU - Matsumura, Takeshi
AU - Inami, Toshiya
AU - Kosaka, Masashi
AU - Kato, Yoshiaki
AU - Inukai, Takaki
AU - Ochiai, Akira
AU - Nakao, Hironori
AU - Murakami, Youichi
AU - Katano, Susumu
AU - Suzuki, Hiroyuki S.
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - The unresolved phase transition at 80K in YbAl3C3 has been studied by X-ray diffraction. It has been confirmed that the transition is a structural one with atomic displacement. Superlattice reflections that appear below 80 K show that the crystal structure changes from hexagonal to orthorhombic. From the reflection conditions, we conclude that the space group in the low temperature phase is Pbca, where all the atoms occupy the general 8c site. By fitting the observed intensities, we present two possible models of atomic displacement. The displacement results in the deformation of the triangular lattice of Yb spins, which is considered to be responsible for the formation of a spin-singlet ground state at low temperatures.
AB - The unresolved phase transition at 80K in YbAl3C3 has been studied by X-ray diffraction. It has been confirmed that the transition is a structural one with atomic displacement. Superlattice reflections that appear below 80 K show that the crystal structure changes from hexagonal to orthorhombic. From the reflection conditions, we conclude that the space group in the low temperature phase is Pbca, where all the atoms occupy the general 8c site. By fitting the observed intensities, we present two possible models of atomic displacement. The displacement results in the deformation of the triangular lattice of Yb spins, which is considered to be responsible for the formation of a spin-singlet ground state at low temperatures.
KW - Dimer
KW - Geometrical frustration
KW - Structural phase transition
KW - YbAlC
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U2 - 10.1143/JPSJ.77.103601
DO - 10.1143/JPSJ.77.103601
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:54349101210
VL - 77
JO - Journal of the Physical Society of Japan
JF - Journal of the Physical Society of Japan
SN - 0031-9015
IS - 10
M1 - 103601
ER -