A polarized neutron investigation of the martensiticphase transition in V3Si: evidence for a band Jahn-Tellermechanism

Abstract

Polarized neutron diffraction has been used to study the structuralphase transition in V3Si. The redistribution of electronsbetween the two independent V sites in the low-temperature phase ofV3Si has been determined by comparing the magnetic scatteringobserved from reflections that are equivalent in thehigh-temperature cubic phase but inequivalent below the transition.The higher susceptibility observed at the twofold, compared with thefourfold, vanadium sites in the tetragonal phase is consistent withthe predictions of a band Jahn-Teller model of the phasetransition.