Large isotropic negative thermal expansion above a structural quantum phase transition
Perovskite structured materials contain myriad tunable ordered phases of electronic and magnetic origin with proven technological importance and strong promise for a variety of energy solutions. An always-contributing influence beneath these cooperative and competing interactions is the lattice, whose physics may be obscured in complex perovskites by the many coupled degrees of freedom which makes these systems interesting. Here we report signatures of an approach to a quantum phase transition very near the ground state of the nonmagnetic, ionic insulating, simple cubic perovskite material ScF3 and show that its physical properties are strongly effected as much as 100 K above the putative transition. Spatial and temporal correlations in the high-symmetry cubic phase determined using energy- and momentum-resolved inelastic X-ray scattering as well as X-ray diffraction reveal that soft mode, central peak and thermal expansion phenomena are all strongly influenced by the transition.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science - Office of Basic Energy Sciences; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1237951
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 92; ISSN 0163-1829
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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