Structural evolution of single-crystal RECrO3 (RE = Y, Eu-Lu) orthochromates

In-house X-ray powder diffraction has been employed to study the room-temperature structural evolution of orthochromate RECrO3 (RE ?= ?Y, Eu-Lu) single crystals grown by the floating-zone method with a laser-diode furnace. Structural refinements reveal an anomaly in the evolution of lattice parameters versus RE ionic radius. This anomaly occurred to the LuCrO3 single crystal and may be attributed to the disappearance of magnetostriction effect due to the loss of both spin and orbital angular moments of Lu3+ ions. Moreover, we have monitored the evolution of Bragg (0 2 0), (1 1 2), (2 0 0), and (0 2 1) peaks, which has varied in a regular basis with rare-earth ionic radius indicative of changes in lattice constants.

Automated summary

In-house X-ray powder diffraction was used to study the room-temperature structural evolution of orthochromate RECrO3 (RE = Y, Eu-Lu) single crystals grown by the floating-zone method with a laser-diode furnace. An anomaly in the evolution of lattice parameters was found in the LuCrO3 single crystal, possibly due to the loss of both spin and orbital angular moments of Lu3+ ions leading to the disappearance of magnetostriction effect. The evolution of Bragg (0 2 0), (1 1 2), (2 0 0), and (0 2 1) peaks was monitored, showing regular variations with rare-earth ionic radius indicating changes in lattice constants.