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Quantitative Electron Diffraction Evidence for One-Dimensional Ordering in Magnetite above the Verwey Transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2003

J. Pacaud
Affiliation:
Lab. de Metallic Phys., UMR 6630, SP2MI, BP179, Université de Poitiers, 86960 Chasseneuil, France
J.M. Zuo
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1304 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
R. Hoier
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
S. Matsumura
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyushu University 36, Japan
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Abstract

Energy-filtered electron diffraction and three-dimensional reciprocal lattice mapping was used to study the nature of diffuse scattering in magnetite above the Verwey transition temperature. Characteristic Huang scattering associated with a single molecular polaron is observed at room temperature. As the temperature is lowered, the experiment shows narrowing of diffuse scattering in the 〈001〉 directions and additional ringlike diffuse scattering at q ∼ 0.8, which suggests the presence of one-dimensional structures above the Verwey transition. Experimental measurements of temperature-dependent correlation lengths and diffuse scattering intensity indicate an increase in the number and length of the one-dimensional structure as the temperature is cooled toward the transition. This study demonstrates the electron sensitivity to atomic displacement and the quality of electron diffraction data for studying phase transition in complex materials.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2003 Microscopy Society of America

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