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Local structure of La 1.65 Eu 0.2 Sr 0.15 </mml:…

2003; American Physical Society; Volume: 67; Issue: 22 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1103/physrevb.67.224508

1095-3795

B. Simovič, M. Hücker, P. C. Hammel, B. Büchner, U. Ammerahl, A. Revcolevschi,

High-pressure geophysics and materials

We investigate the local symmetry of the tilting of the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_{6}$ octahedra in ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.65}{\mathrm{Eu}}_{0.2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.15}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4}$ by means of ${}^{63}\mathrm{Cu}$ NMR spectroscopy and the Van Vleck susceptibility of the ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}$ ions. The lineshape of the Cu-NMR central line is sensitive to local structure through the coupling of the ${}^{63}\mathrm{Cu}$ nuclear quadrupole moment to the local electric field gradient. The ${\mathrm{Eu}}^{3+}$ Van Vleck susceptibility, as a single ion effect, locally probes the symmetry of the crystal field at the Eu site. Both techniques independently provide clear evidence for a change of the local tilt symmetry at the first order structural transition from the orthorhombic to the low-temperature tetragonal phase, in excellent agreement with the average structure obtained by diffraction techniques. We conclude that the symmetry of the average crystal structure accurately represents the symmetry of the octahedral tilt pattern on a local scale.