Nuclear 111Cd probes detect a hidden symmetry change at the γ → α transition in cerium considered isostructural for 60 years

We use the time-differential perturbed angular correlation technique to study nuclear electric quadupole hyperfine interactions of probe 111Cd nuclei in cerium lattice sites at room temperature under pressures up to 8 GPa. We have found that the well known γ → α phase transition in cerium is not isostructural. In α-Ce, the probe 111Cd nuclei reveal a quadrupole electron charge density component that is absent in γ-Ce. The hidden spacial structure of electronic quadrupoles in α-Ce is triple-q antiferroquadrupolar, as was suggested in [14]. We relate our findings to the current understanding of the γ → α phase transition and also report on nuclear quadrupole interactions in other high-pressure phases of cerium: α″ (C2/m space symmetry) and α′ (α-U structure).