title: Symmetry of orbital order in Fe3O4 studied by Fe L(2,3) resonant x-ray diffraction.
abstract: We studied the symmetry of the Fe 3d wave function in magnetite below the Verwey temperature T(V) with resonant soft-x-ray diffraction. Although the lattice structure of the low-temperature phase of Fe(3)O(4) is well described by the pseudo-orthorhombic Pmca with a slight monoclinic P2/c distortion, we find that the 3d wave function does not reflect the Pmca symmetry, and its distortion toward monoclinic symmetry is by far larger than that of the lattice. The result supports a scenario in which the Verwey transition involves the ordering of t(2g) orbitals with complex-number coefficients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Quantum Matters, ADSM, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8530, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buchholz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trabant
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schierle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schlappa
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Metcalf
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Tjeng
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schüßler-Langeheine