New Members of the RuSr 2 RECu 2 O 8 Family of Phases (RE=Rare Earth) Obtained at High Pressure and Temperature

Abstract

At room pressure, Sm, Eu and Gd seem to be the only RE elements that accept to enter into the structure of RuSr 2 GdCu 2 O 8 . However high pressure and high temperatures allow one to replace gadolinium by other lanthanide cations. We have been successful in replacing Gd by Y, La, Pr, Nd, Tb, Dy, Ho and Er. X-ray diffraction patterns fitted by the Rietveld method show that the average crystal structure of RuSr 2 RECu 2 O 8 is tetragonal with P 4/ mmm space group symmetry. Micro-Raman experiments have been performed on RuSr 2 GdCu 2 O 8 samples synthesized at both high and room pressure; the resulting spectra are consistent with the same structure, since there are no major changes in the low-frequency range.