Resonant X-ray scattering study of quadrupole-strain coupling in DyB4

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Aug 17;99(7):076401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.076401. Epub 2007 Aug 13.

Abstract

X-ray and neutron scattering studies were performed on DyB4 which exhibits both a quadrupolar ordering and a macroscopic lattice distortion. A forbidden reflection at 7.792 keV near the Dy L3 absorption edge is identified as a quadrupolar ordering peak, and the quadrupolar order and a monoclinic structural distortion develop concomitantly below 12.3 K as second-order-type phase transitions. Coupling between the quadrupolar order and the strain in DyB4 is directly demonstrated by observing that both order parameters are proportional to each other.