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arXiv · 1911.12695

Anharmonicity and scissoring modes in the negative thermal expansion materials ScF$_3$ and CaZrF$_6$

Tobias Bird·Jessica Woodland-Scott·Lei Hu·Michael Wharmby·Jun Chen·Andrew Goodwin·Mark Senn
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Abstract

We use a symmetry-motivated approach to analysing X-ray pair distribution functions to study the mechanism of negative thermal expansion in two ReO$_3$-like compounds; ScF$_3$ and CaZrF$_6$. Both average and local structure suggest that it is the flexibility of M-F-M linkages (M = Ca, Zr, Sc) due to dynamic rigid and semi-rigid "scissoring" modes that facilitates the observed NTE behaviour. The amplitudes of these dynamic distortions are greater for CaZrF$_6$ than for ScF$_3$, which corresponds well with the larger magnitude of the thermal expansion reported in the literature for the former. We show that this flexbility is enhanced in CaZrF$_6$ due to the rock-salt ordering mixing the characters of two of these scissoring modes. Additionally, we show that in ScF$_3$ anharmonic coupling between the modes responsible for the structural flexibility and the rigid unit modes contributes to the unusually high NTE behaviour in this material.

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Tobias Bird, Jessica Woodland-Scott, Lei Hu, Michael Wharmby, Jun Chen, Andrew Goodwin, Mark Senn. 2019-11-28. Anharmonicity and scissoring modes in the negative thermal expansion materials ScF$_3$ and CaZrF$_6$. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.101.064306

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