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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
Published on: January 26, 2014
Frustrated soft modes and negative thermal expansion in ZrW2O8
1Physics Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
Abstract:
Negative thermal expansion (NTE) in cubic ZrW2O8 has generated much interest due to its large, isotropic, and temperature independent behavior. Here, x-ray absorption fine structure data are presented for various atom pairs, providing evidence that the low-energy modes causing NTE correspond to the correlated vibrations of a WO4 tetrahedron and its three nearest ZrO6 octahedra. This involves translations of the WO4 as a rigid unit along each of the four <111> axes. The interconnectivity of these modes prevents an anisotropic soft mode from developing, a new geometrical phenomenon that we call the "frustrated soft mode."
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