Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 20, 2026
Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Structures and optical properties of two phases of SrMgF4
Alexander P Yelisseyev1, Xingxing Jiang, Ludmila I Isaenko
1Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 3 Ac. Koptyug ave, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
Abstract:
SrMgF4 has an extremely large bandgap Eg of 12.50 eV as obtained from reflection dispersion. The symmetry of this crystal is monoclinic P21 at room temperature and transforms to the orthorhombic Cmc21 phase near 478 K as the temperature increases. The acentric character of the low-temperature (LT) phase is confirmed by pyroelectric luminescence at T < 440 K. The fundamental absorption edge of the LT phase is located at 122 nm (10.15 eV). A considerable difference between the absorption edge and bandgap Eg is due to the strong exciton absorption. The first-principles electronic structure, refractive indices, nonlinear susceptibility and polarizability were calculated for both LT and high-temperature (HT) phases. Band-to-band transitions are direct for the LT phase but indirect for HT. In spite of relatively low birefringence (∼0.017) and nonlinear susceptibility (∼0.044 pm V(-1), an order lower than that in KDP), SrMgF4 crystals are considered promising for nonlinear optics thanks to their transparency far in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral region.
Related Concept Videos
02:46Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than...
02:30Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
02:42Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
02:52Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...
02:58Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
02:52VSEPR Theory and the Basic Shapes