Local Distortion Induced Metal-to-Insulator Phase Transition in PrRu$_4$P$_{12}$

D. Cao; R. H. Heffner; F. Bridges; I. -K. Jeong; E. D. Bauer; W. M. Yuhasz; M. B. Maple

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.036403

paper

Local Distortion Induced Metal-to-Insulator Phase Transition in PrRu $_{4}$ P $_{12}$

arXiv:cond-mat/0408701 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.036403

Abstract

Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) experiments have been carried out on PrRu $_{4}$ P $_{12}$ and PrOs $_{4}$ P $_{12}$ to study the metal-to-insulator (MI) phase transition in PrRu $_{4}$ P $_{12}$ . No Pr displacement was observed across the MI transition temperature from the EXAFS data. Instead, our EXAFS data clearly show that a Ru displacement is associated with this MI transition. The very high Debye temperature for the Ru-P bond ( $Θ_{D}$ =690 K) suggests that a slight rotation/displacement of relatively rigid RuP $_{6}$ octahedra leads to this small Ru displacement, which accompanies the MI transition at 62 K in PrRu $_{4}$ P $_{12}$ .

four figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

Local Distortion Induced Metal-to-Insulator Phase Transition in PrRu4​P12​

Abstract

Local Distortion Induced Metal-to-Insulator Phase Transition in PrRu $_{4}$ P $_{12}$