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Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 086402 (2001) [4 pages]

“Devil’s Staircase”-Type Phase Transition in NaV2O5 under High Pressure

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K. Ohwada1,*, Y. Fujii1, N. Takesue1, M. Isobe2, Y. Ueda2, H. Nakao3, Y. Wakabayashi3,4,†, Y. Murakami3,‡, K. Ito5, Y. Amemiya6, H. Fujihisa7, K. Aoki7, T. Shobu8,§, Y. Noda8, and N. Ikeda9
1Neutron Scattering Laboratory, Institute for Solid States Physics, The University of Tokyo, 106-1 Shirakata, Tokai, 319-1106, Japan
2Material Design and Characterization Laboratory, Institute for Solid States Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan
3Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
4Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1, Hiyoshi, Kouhoku-ku, Yokohama, 223-8522 Japan
5Institute of Material Science, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
6Department of Advanced Materials Science, Graduate School of Frontier Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
7National Institute of Materials and Chemical Research, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565, Japan
8Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan
9The Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), SPring-8, 1-1-1 Kouto, Mikazuki, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan

Received 18 April 2001; published 7 August 2001

The “devil’s staircase”-type phase transition in the quarter-filled spin-ladder compound NaV2O5 has been discovered at low temperature and high pressure by synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction. A large number of transitions are found to successively take place among higher-order commensurate phases with 2a×2b×zc type superstructures. The observed temperature and pressure dependence of modulation wave number qc, defined by 1/z, is well reproduced by the axial next nearest neighbor Ising model. The qc is suggested to reflect atomic displacements presumably coupled with charge ordering in this system.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.086402
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.086402
PACS:
71.27.+a, 61.10.Eq, 62.50.+p

*Present address: Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (SPring-8), Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1-1-1 Koto Mikazuki-cho Sayo-gun Hyogo 679-5148, Japan.

†Present address: Chiba University, 1-33, Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba, 263-8522 Japan.

‡Present address: Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.

§Present address: SPring-8 Service, Inc., 2-23-1, Koto, Kamigori-cho, Ako-gun, Hyogo 678-1201, Japan.

 
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