Ein neuer Strukturtyp beim ersten Erdalkalimetall-Oxoiridat-Cuprat: Sr3IrCuO6

Structural Chemistry of A3CuBO6 (A = Ca, Sr; B = Mn, Ru, Ir) as a Function of Temperature

Variable temperature X-ray and neutron powder diffraction techniques have been used to identify structural phase transitions in Cu-rich A(3)A'BO(6) phases. A transition from monoclinic to rhombohedral symmetry was observed by X-ray diffraction between 700 and 500 K in Sr(3)Cu(1-x)M(x)IrO(6) (M = Ni, Zn; 0 < or = x < or = 0.5). The temperature of the phase change decreased in a linear manner with Cu-content and was essentially independent of the nature of M. Ca(3.1)Cu(0.9)MnO(6) was shown to pass from a rhombohedral phase to a triclinic phase on cooling below 290 K; the structure of the triclinic phase was refined against neutron diffraction data collected at 2 K. Ca(3.1)Cu(0.9)RuO(6) undergoes a transition between a disordered rhombohedral phase and an ordered monoclinic phase when cooled below 623 K. Neutron diffraction has been used to determine the structure as a function of temperature in the range 523 < or =T/K < or = 723 and hence to determine an order parameter for the low temperature phase; the second-order transition is shown to be incomplete 100 K below the critical temperature.

Novel mixed-valent (V/VI) triple perovskite ruthenates: observation of a complex low-temperature structural and magnetic transition

Two new mixed-valent triple perovskites, Ba(3)MRu(2)O(9) (M = Li, Na), were grown from reactive hydroxide fluxes. They crystallize in the hexagonal space group P6(3)/mmc, where Ru(V) and Ru(VI) are disordered on only one crystallographic site. Upon cooling, single crystals of Ba(3)NaRu(2)O(9) undergo a complex symmetry-breaking structural transition at ca. 225 K from room-temperature hexagonal symmetry to a low-temperature orthorhombic symmetry, space group Cmcm. Accompanying this structural transition is a rather abrupt decrease in the magnetic susceptibility at 210 K followed by a steady decrease in the susceptibility with decreasing temperature. Interestingly, the lithium analogue does not display any structural transition down to 100 K. The structural transition in Ba(3)NaRu(2)O(9) generates three crystallographically unique Ru sites in the low-temperature structure as compared to only one distinct site in the room-temperature structure. On the basis of an analysis of the Ru-Ru distances in the face-sharing bi-octahedra, the structural transition also appears to involve charge ordering of Ru(V) and Ru(VI), causing all Ru(V) to occupy one set of bi-octahedra and all Ru(VI) to occupy another set.

Inhomogeneous magnetism in single crystalline Sr(3)CuIrO(6+delta): implications to phase-separation concepts

The single crystalline form of an insulator, Sr(3)CuIrO(6+delta), is shown to exhibit unexpectedly more than one magnetic transition (at 5 and 19 K) with spin-glass-like magnetic susceptibility behavior. On the basis of this finding, viz., inhomogeneous magnetism in a chemically homogeneous material, we propose that the idea of "phase separation" described for manganites is more widespread in different ways. The observed experimental features enable us to make a comparison with the predictions of a recent toy model on magnetic phase separation in an insulating environment.