Soft rotary mode and structural phase transitions in K2ReCl6

The triple-axis neutron scattering technique has been used to observe the soft-phonon modes associated with the second-order structural phase transitions in the cubic antifluorite K₂ReCl₆. The transverse (ReCl₆)^?2 rotary mode has been found to be soft all along the [ζ00] direction, with the structural distortions being triggered by a condensation first at the zone center and then at the [100] zone boundary. In addition to the soft phonon modes there is a temperature dependent central component to the spectrum along the [ζ00] direction.     

Origin of the high piezoelectric response in PbZr1-xTixO3

High resolution x-ray powder diffraction measurements on poled PbZr1-xTixO3 (PZT) ceramic samples close to the rhombohedral-tetragonal phase boundary (the so-called morphotropic phase boundary) have shown that for both rhombohedral and tetragonal compositions the piezoelectric elongation of the unit cell does not occur along the polar directions but along those directions associated with the monoclinic distortion. This work provides the first direct evidence for the origin of the very high piezoelectricity in PZT.     

Phase transitions in diluted magnets: Critical behavior,percolation, and random fields

Transition metal halides provide realizations of Ising,XY, and Heisenberg antiferromagnets in one, two, and three dimensions. The interactions, which are of short range, are generally well understood. By dilution with nonmagnetic species such as Zn⁺⁺ or Mg⁺⁺ one is able to prepare site-random alloys which correspond to random systems of particular interest in statistical mechanics. By mixing two magnetic ions such as Fe⁺⁺ and Co⁺⁺ one can produce magnetic crystals with competing interactions-either in the form of competing anisotropies or competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. In this paper the results of a series of neutron scattering experiments on these systems carried out at Brookhaven over the past several years are briefly reviewed. First the critical behavior in Rb₂Mn_0.5Ni_0.5F₄ and Fe_cZn_1–cF₂ which correspond to two-dimensional and three-dimensional random Ising systems, respectively, are discussed. Percolation phenomena have been studied in Rb₂Mn_cMg_l–cF₄, Rb₂Co_cMg_l–cF₄, KMn_cZ_l-cF₃, and Mn_cZn_l–cF₂ which correspond to two-and three-dimensional Heisenberg and Ising models, respectively. In these casesc is chosen to be in the neighborhood of the nearest-neighbor percolation concentration. Application of a uniform field to the above systems generates a random staggered magnetic field; this has facilitated a systematic study of the random field problem. As we shall discuss in detail, a variety of novel, unexpected phenomena have been observed.     

Inelastic neutron scattering from the quasi-one-dimensional conductor K1.75[Pt(CN)4]·1.5H2O

Neutron inelastic scattering has been used to study the longitudinal and one of the transverse acoustic phonons, propagating along the [001]¹ direction in triclinic K_1.75[Pt(CN)₄]·1.5H₂O. This material appears to be a quasi-one-dimensional conductor, with a commensurate distortion. We observe a reasonably well defined Kohn anomaly, which shows little temperature dependence between 80 and 300 K.     

Random field effects in the three dimensional Ising magnet: Fe x Zn1−x F2

We have carried out a comprehensive neutron scattering study of random field effects in the diluted three dimensional Ising antiferromagnet Fe _x Zn_1–x F₂ withx=0.35 and 0.5. Emphasis is on the global trands from the small to the large random field regimes. It is found, as in previous experiments, that when the system is cooled in a field it evolves from the high temperature paramagnetic state to a low temperature domain wall state. The low temperature peaks are well-described by Lorentzian squared profiles although for thex=0.5 sample extinction made the measurements difficult. In both samples, the results show that in the field-cooled state the correlation length varies asH ^–v withv=2.2±0.1. In thex=0.35 sample this power law holds over a length scale varying from 2 to 1500 lattice constants. At low fields pretransitional behavior similar to that observed previously in Fe_0.6Zn_0.4F₂ is found. AtT _N (H=0) it is found that the correlation length also scales algebraically withH but withv=0.86±0.04. Pronounced history-dependent effects are observed below the phase boundary determined by the peak in the critical scattering. For example, on cooling in zero-field, raising the field and then warming, long range order survives up to the phase boundary; at this point it appears to convert abruptly into the finite correlation length field cooled state although elucidation of the explicit nature of this transition is complicated by rounding due to a concentration gradient. These results are discussed in the context of recent theories incorporating metastability effects as well as recent experiments.     

Neutron scattering study of 49 K phase transition in TTF-TCNQ

Elastic neutron scattering measurements show the existence of three low temperature phase transitions in TTF-TCNQ and are interpreted within the framework of a recent theoretical investigation by Bak and Emery. Direct evidence for the new 49 K transition is presented in addition to the 38 and 54 K transitions reported previously.     

Static and dynamical magnetic characters in doped Cu oxides

The discovery of the spin density wave (SDW) state defined as stripe in the doped Cu oxides becomes a central issue in the elucidation of the high-temperature superconducting mechanism. We present the coexistence of the stripe order and superconductivity, and the change of the stripe structure associated with the insultor–metal transition. Both static and dynamical SDW are robust of the high-temperature superconducting Cu oxides.