Abstract
A temperature-dependent, single crystal x-ray diffraction study of the giant magnetocaloric material, Gd5(Si2Ge2), across its Curie temperature (276 K) reveals that the simultaneous orthorhombic to monoclinic transition occurs by a shear mechanism in which the (Si, Ge)-(Si, Ge) dimers that are richer in Ge increase their distances by 0.859(3) Å and lead to twinning. The structural transition changes the electronic structure, and provides an atomic-level model for the change in magnetic behavior with temperature in the Gd5(SixGe1-x)4.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 4617-4620 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Physical review letters |
Volume | 84 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2000 |