Resonant X-ray diffraction studies on the charge ordering in magnetite

E. Nazarenko1,2, J.E. Lorenzo1, Y. Joly1, J.L. Hodeau1, D. Mannix3 and C. Marin4

1Laboratoire de Cristallographie CNRS, BP 166X,F-38052 Grenoble Cedex 09, France

2 Rostov State University, Rostov-on-Don 344090, Russia

3XMaS CRG, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France.

4DRFMC/SPSMS/Groupe Mat´eriaux, CEA, F-38054 Grenoble, France.

(Dated: February 6, 2008)

Here we show that the low temperature phase of magnetite is associated with an effective, although fractional, ordering of the charge. Evidence and a quantitative evaluation of the atomic charges are achieved by using resonant x-ray diffraction (RXD) experiments whose results are further analyzed with the help of ab initio calculations of the scattering factors involved. By confirming the results obtained from X-ray crystallography we have shown that RXD is able to probe quantitatively the electronic structure in very complex oxides, whose importance covers a wide domain of applications.

PACS numbers: 71.30.+h 61.10.Nz 78.70.Ck