Evidence for Octupole Order in Ce0.7La0.3B6 from Resonant X-ray Scattering

Abstract

The azimuthal angle dependence observed in the resonant X-ray scattering in phase IV of Ce$_{0.7}$La$_{0.3}$B$_6$ is analyzed theoretically. It is shown that the peculiar angle dependence observed in the E2 channel is consistent with the Gamma_{5u}-type octupole order with principal axis along (111) and equivalent directions. Under the assumption that the four equivalent octupole domains are nearly equally populated in the sample, the observed angle dependences are reproduced by calculation for both sigma-sigma' and sigma-pi' polarizations. The calculation for various symmetries of order parameters excludes unambiguously other order parameters than the Gamma_{5u}-type octupole.