Phase transitions within crystals that are aperiodic by construction

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.106.134109

Authors: Céline Mariette (Univ. Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251) , Philippe Rabiller (Univ. Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251) , Laurent Guérin (Univ. Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251) , Claude Ecolivet (Univ. Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251) , Ilya Frantsuzov (Kansas State University) , Bo Wang (Kansas State University) , Shane M. Nichols (Kansas State University) , Philippe Bourges (CEA-CNRS, CE Saclay) , Alexei Bosak (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) , Yu-Sheng Chen (University of Chicago) , Mark D. Hollingsworth (Kansas State University) , Bertrand Toudic (Univ. Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) - UMR 6251)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review B , VOL 106

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 5019

Abstract: Aperiodic crystals possess long-range order without translational symmetry. They constitute a state of matter that has forced a profound paradigm shift in solid-state physics. A common feature of aperiodic crystals is that they recover periodicity in higher dimensional spaces, the so-called crystallographic superspaces. Much work has been dedicated to the structural order within these superspaces and also to their specific dynamics. This paper focuses on the phase transitions within crystallographic superspaces. Aperiodic crystals are divided into three families: incommensurately modulated crystals, composite crystals, and quasicrystals. Incommensurately modulated crystals have been studied heavily and appear now to be relatively well understood, since they possess a periodic high-symmetry phase. The other two members of the family are aperiodic by construction. In this paper, we present a comprehensive and systematic study of a prototype composite host-guest family of n -alkane/urea inclusion compounds [ n − C n H 2 n + 2 / CO ( NH 2 ) 2 ] . For these materials, which exhibit a rich sequence of phases, the phase transitions are described in terms of group/subgroup symmetry breaking within crystallographic superspaces. Such phase transitions may decrease, increase, or maintain the dimension of the crystallographic superspace. These results highlight the multiplicity of specific structural solutions that aperiodicity offers.

Journal Keywords: Crystal symmetry Structural phase transition

Subject Areas: Chemistry


Instruments: I04-Macromolecular Crystallography

Other Facilities: 14-BM-C at APS; 8.2.2, 8.2.1, 11.3.1 at ALS

Added On: 26/10/2022 09:13

Discipline Tags:

Chemistry Organic Chemistry

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Macromolecular Crystallography (MX)