Crystalline and magnetic ordering in the monoclinic phase of the layered perovskite PAMC

A single-crystal elastic neutron scattering experiment between 4.2 and 115 K has been performed on the low-temperature monoclinic zeta phase of the layered perovskite bis(propylammonium) manganesetetrachloride (PAMC). The crystalline structure is commensurately modulated, with a modulation vector of 1/3b*, and below 39 K PAMC is an antiferromagnet with a small ferromagnetic component.

The temperature dependence of the monoclinic angle alpha depends on the mosaicity of the crystal which increases with the number of 'cooling cycles'. The satellite reflections do not have any contribution from the magnetic ordering, but their intensity has abrupt changes that coincide with changes in either the nuclear or the magnetic ordering parameter.

Magnetoelastic effects seem to influence the ordering of the crystal.