Investigation of the Structure of Single Crystal Sr₃Ru₂O₇ by Neutron and Convergent Beam Electron Diffractions

Abstract

The structure of Sr₃Ru₂O₇ was reinvestigated by a neutron diffraction and a convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) experiment on single crystals. The CBED experiment revealed that the space group of Sr₃Ru₂O₇ is Bbcb with an orthorhombic lattice with nanometer-size twin components in the crystal. Taking these observations into account, a structure analysis was carried out with the neutron data. It was found that RuO₆-octahedrons connected each other have rotated about c-axis in the opposite direction. This result is consistent with the previous report by a powder neutron diffraction experiment.