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Valence modulations in CeRuSn

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 نشر من قبل R. Feyerherm
 تاريخ النشر 2014
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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CeRuSn exhibits an extraordinary room temperature structure at 300~K with coexistence of two types of Ce ions, namely trivalent Ce$^{3+}$ and intermediate valent Ce$^{(4-delta)+}$, in a metallic environment. The ordered arrangement of these two Ce types on specific crystallographic sites results in a doubling of the unit cell along the $c$-axis with respect to the basic monoclinic CeCoAl-type structure. Below room temperature, structural modulation transitions with very broad hysteresis have been reported from measurements of various bulk properties. X-ray diffraction revealed that at low temperatures the doubling of the CeCoAl type structure is replaced by a different modulated ground state, approximating a near tripling of the basic CeCoAl cell. The transition is accompanied by a significant contraction of the $c$ axis. We present new x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy data at the Ce L$_{3}$ absorption edge, measured on a freshly cleaved surface of a CeRuSn single crystal. In contrast to a previous report, the new data exhibit small but significant variations as function of temperature that are consistent with a transition of a fraction of Ce$^{3+}$ ions to the intermediate valence state, analogous to the $gamma rightarrow alpha$ transition in elemental cerium, when cooling through the structural transitions of CeRuSn. Such results in a valence-modulated state.



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At ambient temperatures, CeRuSn exhibits an extraordinary structure with a coexistence of two types of Ce ions in a metallic environment, namely trivalent Ce3+ and intermediate valent Ce(4-x)+. Charge ordering produces a doubling of the unit cell alo ng the c-axis with respect to the basic monoclinic CeCoAl type structure. Below room temperature, a phase transition with very broad hysteresis has been observed in various bulk properties like electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat. The present x-ray diffraction results show that at low temperatures the doubling of the CeCoAl type structure is replaced by an ill-defined modulated ground state. In this state, at least three different modulation periods compete, with the dominant mode close to a tripling of the basic cell. The transition is accompanied by a significant contraction of the c axis. XANES data suggest that the average Ce valence remains constant, thus the observed c axis contraction is not due to any valence transition. We propose a qualitative structure model with modified stacking sequences of Ce3+ and Ce(4-x)+ layers in the various modulated phases. Surprisingly, far below 100 K the modulated state is sensitive to x-ray irradiation at photon fluxes available at a synchrotron. With photon fluxes of order 10E12/s, the modulated ground state can be destroyed on a timescale of minutes and the doubling of the CeCoAl cell observed at room temperature is recovered. The final state is metastable at 10 K. Heating the sample above 60 K again leads to a recovery of the modulated state. Thus, CeRuSn exhibits both thermally and x-ray induced reversible transformations of the Ce3+/Ce(4-x)+ charge ordering pattern. Such a behavior is unique among any know intermetallic compound.
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