2001/11/13 by Jonathan P. Wright, J. P. Wright, J. P. Attfield +2 · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Magnetic Properties and Synthesis of Ferrites #Magnetic properties of thin films #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.266401
11 pages, 2 figures, to be published in PRL
arxiv created 2001/11/13 · openalex publication_date 2001/12/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The crystal structure of Fe(3)O(4) below the 122 K Verwey transition has been refined using high-resolution x-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. The refinements give direct evidence for charge ordering (CO) over four independent octahedral Fe sites, two with a charge of +2.4 and the other two of +2.6. CO schemes consistent with our model do not meet the widely accepted Anderson condition of minimum electrostatic repulsion. Instead we propose that CO is driven primarily by a [001] electronic instability, which opens a gap at the transition through a charge density wave mechanism.