133Cs NMR study of the ferroelectric and antiferroelectric transitions in CsH2PO4

Abstract

Abstract Pressure and temperature effects on the one dimensional (1D) and higher-dimensionality correlations associated with the ferroelectric (FE) and antiferroelectric (AFE) phase transitions in cesium dihydrogen phosphate were studied using 133Cs nuclear magnetic resonance at 6.5 MHz. The spin-latticerelaxation time T1 was measured at temperatures down to the FE Curie point TC at pressures of 1 bar and at 1.5 and 3.0 kbar, down to the triple point Tt = 124.6 K at 3.3 kbar, and down to the AFE Neel point TN at 3.6 kbar. Far from the transition T1 decreases exponentially with decreasing temperature due to 1D fluctuations associated with the Jb interactions in disordered hydrogen-bonded chains running along the b axis. As temperature is decreased further, T1 decreases linearly as the JC interaction between hydrogen-bonded chains in b-c planes becomes important. From these results the pressure dependences of Jb, JC and the interplanar interaction Ja were calculated. At 3.3 kbar Ja changes sign, so the stacking of ordered planes becomes AFE rather than FE. At pressures above about 9 kbar, where the interaction JC extrapolates to zero, a new AFE phase is predicted in which each b-axis chain is oriented AFE with respect to nearest neighbors in both the a and c directions.