Nomenclature of magnetic, incommensurate, composition-changed morphotropic, polytype, transient-structural and quasicrystalline phases undergoing phase transitions. II. Report of an IUCr Working Group on Phase Transition Nomenclature.

Abstract

A general nomenclature applicable to the phases that form in any sequence of transitions in the solid state has been recommended by an IUCr Working Group [Acta Cryst. (1998). A54, 1028-1033]. The six-field notation of the first Report, hereafter I, was applied to the case of structural phase transitions, i.e. to transformations resulting from temperature and/or pressure changes between two crystalline (strictly periodic) phases involving modifications to the atomic arrangement. Extensive examples that illustrate the recommendations were provided. This second Report considers, within the framework of a similar six-field notation, the more complex nomenclature of transitions involving magnetic phases, incommensurate phases and transitions that occur as a function of composition change. Extension of the nomenclature to the case of phases with less clearly established relevance to standard schemes of transition in equilibrium systems, namely polytype phases, radiation-induced and other transient phases, quasicrystalline phases and their transitions is recommended more tentatively. A uniform notation for the translational periodicity, propagation vector or wavevector for magnetic and/or incommensurate substances is specified. The notation adopted for incommensurate phases, relying partly on the existence of an average structure, is also consistent with that for commensurate phases in a sequence. The sixth field of the nomenclature is used to emphasize the special features of polytypes and transient phases. As in I, illustrative examples are provided for each category of phase sequence.