Chiral crystal-structure transformation of R 3 Co 4 Sn 13 ( R = La and Ce )

The compounds designated as ${R}_{3}{T}_{4}{\mathrm{Sn}}_{13}$ ($R$ = rare earth and $T$ = transition metal) are hypothesized to be strongly correlated electron systems. Some of these compounds exhibit structural phase transitions with speculated charge-density-wave (CDW) formations. We carried out x-ray diffraction measurements in order to investigate the second-order phase transition of ${R}_{3}{\mathrm{Co}}_{4}{\mathrm{Sn}}_{13}$ ($R=\mathrm{La} \text{and} \mathrm{Ce}$) by using single-crystalline samples synthesized by the molten Sn-flux method. Both compounds exhibit the structural superlattice transformations characterized by the wave vector $\mathbit{q}=(1/2,1/2,0)$ below ${T}_{\mathrm{D}}\ensuremath{\simeq}160$ K, which originate from electronic states owing to the common Co and Sn. The space group of the low-temperature phase is evidenced as a chiral cubic $I{2}_{1}3$. The magnetic-susceptibility enhancement and the Co-ion valence shift below ${T}_{\mathrm{D}}$ are signatures of a phase transition not fully attributed to the conventional CDW formation.