Hidden charge order in an iron oxide square-lattice compound

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.097203

Authors: Jung-Hwa Kim (Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung) , Darren C. Peets (Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung; Ningbo Institute for Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Technische Universität Dresden) , Manfred Reehuis (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie) , Peter Adler (Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe) , Andrey Maljuk (Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung; Leibniz Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung) , Tobias Ritschel (Technische Universität Dresden) , Morgan C. Allison (Technische Universität Dresden) , Jochen Geck (Technische Universität Dresden) , Jose R. L. Mardegan (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) , Pablo J. Bereciartua Perez (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) , Sonia Francoual (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) , Andrew Walters (Diamond Light Source) , Thomas Keller (Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung; Max Planck Society Outstation at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ)) , Paula M. Abdala (SNBL at ESRF) , Philip Pattison (SNBL at ESRF; École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)) , Pinder Dosanjh (University of British Columbia (Vancouver)) , Bernhard Keimer (Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review Letters , VOL 127

State: Published (Approved)
Published: August 2021

Abstract: Since the discovery of charge disproportionation in the FeO 2 square-lattice compound Sr 3 Fe 2 O 7 by Mössbauer spectroscopy more than fifty years ago, the spatial ordering pattern of the disproportionated charges has remained “hidden” to conventional diffraction probes, despite numerous x-ray and neutron scattering studies. We have used neutron Larmor diffraction and Fe K -edge resonant x-ray scattering to demonstrate checkerboard charge order in the FeO 2 planes that vanishes at a sharp second-order phase transition upon heating above 332 K. Stacking disorder of the checkerboard pattern due to frustrated interlayer interactions broadens the corresponding superstructure reflections and greatly reduces their amplitude, thus explaining the difficulty of detecting them by conventional probes. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on “hidden order” in other materials.

Journal Keywords: Charge Order; Oxides

Subject Areas: Physics, Materials

Facility: P09 at PETRA-II; HZB; BM01A and BM01B at ESRF

Added On: 31/08/2021 11:28

Documents:
PhysRevLett.127.097203.pdf

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Physics Materials Science

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