Crystallographic symmetry and magnetic structure of CoO

The crystallographic symmetry of antiferromagnetic CoO was studied using high-re-solution synchrotron powder diffraction in the temperature range 10-300 K. The high-quality powder patterns unambiguously revealed a monoclinic symmetry (space group C2/m) and allowed the extraction of accurate values for the lattice constants. The temperature dependence of the monoclinic deformation scales with the much stronger tetragonal distortion as determined from laboratory x-ray diffraction. Magnetic ordering is associated with a cubic-to-monoclinic transition that is, thus, of first order. Neutron powder-diffraction data are compatible with a collinear magnetic structure with the moments ordered in the monoclinic ac plane.