Helical scattering signatures of strain and electronic textures in YbFe sub(2)O sub(4) from three-dimensional reciprocal-space imaging

The insulating ternary oxide YbFe sub(2)O sub(4) displays an unusual frustration-driven incommensurate charge-ordering (CO) transition, linked to possible ferroelectricity. Based on high-resolution synchrotron data, we report a detailed structural model showing that the CO phase is an incommensurate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics Condensed matter and materials physics, 2012-01, Vol.85 (1), p.014115-014115
Main Authors: Hearmon, Alexander J, Prabhakaran, Dharmalingam, Nowell, Harriott, Fabrizi, Federica, Gutmann, Matthias J, Radaelli, Paolo G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon monoxide
Condensed matter
Electronics
Ferroelectricity
Order disorder
Scattering
Surface layer
Texture
Three dimensional
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Summary:The insulating ternary oxide YbFe sub(2)O sub(4) displays an unusual frustration-driven incommensurate charge-ordering (CO) transition, linked to possible ferroelectricity. Based on high-resolution synchrotron data, we report a detailed structural model showing that the CO phase is an incommensurate charge-density wave and cannot be ferroelectric, since the electrical dipole moments are also incommensurately modulated. The change between continuous and "spotty" helices of scattering at the CO transition is attributed to three-dimensional fluctuations of the direction of the ordering wave vector.
ISSN:1098-0121
1550-235X
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.85.014115