New insights into the magnetism and magnetic structure of LuCrO perovskite.

A polycrystalline sample LuCrO has been characterized by neutron powder diffraction (NPD) and magnetization measurements. Its crystal structure has been Rietveld refined from NPD data in space group Pnma; this perovskite contains strongly tilted CrO octahedra with extremely bent Cr-O-Cr superexchange angles of ∼142°. The NPD data show that below Néel temperature (T ≃ 131 K), the magnetic structure can be defined as an A-type antiferromagnetic arrangement of Cr magnetic moments, aligned along the b axis, with a canting along the c axis.

Reduction of the bulk modulus at high pressure in CrN.

Nitride coatings are increasingly demanded in the cutting- and machining-tool industry owing to their hardness, thermal stability and resistance to corrosion. These properties derive from strongly covalent bonds; understanding the bonding is a requirement for the design of superhard materials with improved capabilities. Here, we report a pressure-induced cubic-to-orthorhombic transition at approximately 1 GPa in CrN.

A new pnictide superconductor without iron.

LiCu(2)P(2) and LiFeP have been synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction. LiCu(2)P(2) has a crystal structure similar to that of BaFe(2)As(2); LiFeP has the same crystal structure as that of LiFeAs. Resistivity and magnetization measurements reveal that they become superconductive at 3.

A new perovskite polytype in the high-pressure sequence of BaIrO(3).

The high-pressure sequence of the perovskite polytypes of BaIrO(3) has been investigated in the pressure range up to 10 GPa. At ambient pressure the so-called "9R" polytype has been prepared by solid-state reaction and slow cooling in air to yield an almost fully oxygen-stoichiometric BaIrO(2.96(1)) composition.