https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00277-7
Crystal and magnetic structure of CeVO3
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
2
Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Glienicker Strasse 100, 14109 Berlin, Germany
3
SNBL at ESRF, BP 220, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
4
Laboratory of Crystallography, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, BSP-Dorigny, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
5
Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, 113, Tokyo, Japan
6
Correlated Electron Research Center (CERC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8562, Japan
Corresponding author: a reehuis@hmi.de
Received:
13
September
2007
Revised:
23
April
2008
Published online:
16
July
2008
The crystal structure and the magnetic ordering pattern of the electrically insulating perovskite CeVO3 was investigated by high-resolution powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal neutron diffraction. A structural phase transition from an orthorhombic to a monoclinic structure (with space groups Pbnm and P21/b, respectively) was observed upon cooling below TS = 136 K. This transition is associated with a strong distortion of the VO6-octahedra and can be attributed to orbital ordering. A magnetic ordering transition driven by exchange interactions between vanadium moments is observed at TN = 124 K, and antiferromagnetic interactions between magnetic moments on vanadium and cerium ions induce a progressive magnetic polarization of the cerium sublattice at lower temperatures. The full magnetic structure is described by a superposition of the modes (Cx, Fy, -) and (Fx, Cy, -). The unit cell volume and the tilt angles of the VO6-octahedra in the CeVO3-crystal structure are anomalous compared to those of other members of the series RVO3 (R = lanthanide atom), and the ordered magnetic moments on both vanadium and cerium sublattices at low temperatures are considerably smaller than the free-ion values of V3+ and Ce3+. Possible origins of this behavior are discussed.
PACS: 61.10.Nz – X-ray diffraction / 61.12.Ld – Neutron diffraction / 61.50.Ks – Crystallographic aspects of phase transformations; pressure effects / 75.25.+z – Spin arrangements in magnetically ordered materials
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2008