Quadrupole moments in chiral material DyFe 3 (BO 3 ) 4 observed by resonant x-ray diffraction

Hiroshi Nakajima (1) , Tomoyasu Usui (1) , Yves Joly (2) , Motohiro Suzuki (3) , Yusuke Wakabayashi (1) , Tsuyoshi Kimura (1) , Yoshikazu Tanaka (4)

1 Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
2 NEEL - SIN - Surfaces, Interfaces et Nanostructures
3 JASRI - Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute [Hyogo]
4 RIKEN RSC - RIKEN SPring-8 Center [Hyogo]

By means of circularly polarized x rays at the Dy L 3 and Fe K absorption edges, the chiral structure of the electric quadrupole was investigated for a single crystal of DyFe 3 (BO 3) 4 , in which both Dy and Fe ions exhibit a spiral arrangement. The integrated intensity of the resonant x-ray diffraction of space-group forbidden reflections 004 and 005 is interpreted within the electric dipole transitions from Dy 2p 3 2 to 5d and Fe 1s to 4p, respectively. We have confirmed that the handedness of the crystal observed at Dy L 3 and Fe K edges is consistent with that observed at Dy M 5 edge reported in a previous study. The electric quadrupole moments of Dy 5d and Fe 4p are derived by analyzing the azimuth scans of the diffracted intensity. The temperature profiles of the integrated intensity of 004 at the Dy L 3 and the Fe K edges are similar to those of Dy-O and Fe-O bond lengths, while the temperature dependence at the Dy M 5 edge does not match the bond-length behavior. The results indicate that the helix chiral orientations of quadrupole moments due to Dy 5d and Fe 4p electrons are more strongly coupled to the ligands states than Dy 4f electrons.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Hiroshi Nakajima, Tomoyasu Usui, Yves Joly, Motohiro Suzuki, Yusuke Wakabayashi, et al.. Quadrupole moments in chiral material DyFe 3 (BO 3 ) 4 observed by resonant x-ray diffraction. Physical Review B, 2016, 93 (14), pp.144116. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.93.144116⟩. ⟨hal-01303947⟩