Synthesis, crystal structure and physical properties of quasi-one-dimensional ACr$_3$As$_3$ (A = Rb, Cs)

TL;DR

This study synthesizes and characterizes new quasi-one-dimensional ACr3As3 compounds, revealing their crystal structure, magnetic behavior, and how interchain distance influences their electronic properties, providing insights into related superconductors.

Contribution

It introduces new ACr3As3 compounds synthesized via deintercalation, detailing their structure and magnetic properties, and explores how interchain distance affects their electronic behavior.

Findings

Cr moments increase with interchain distance

Materials exhibit cluster spin-glass behavior below 6 K

No superconductivity observed in these compounds

Abstract

Recently, new Cr-based superconductors, A$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$ (A = K, Rb, Cs), have gained a strong interest because of their one-dimensional crystal structures and electron correlations. Here we report the crystal structure and physical properties of two related materials ACr$_3$As$_3$ (A = Rb, Cs) which are synthesized via a soft-chemical A+ deintercalation in A$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$. The new compounds remain one-dimensional (Cr$_3$As$_3$)$_{\infty}$ linear chains, and the interchain distance can be tuned by the incorporation of the alkali-metal cations with different sizes. The physical-property measurements indicate a local-moment behavior at high temperatures, and the moments freeze into a cluster spin-glass state below 5$\sim$6 K. No superconductivity was observed in both materials. We also found that, with increasing the interchain distance, the Cr effective moments increase monotonically, accompanied with the enhancement of semi-conductivity. Our results shed light on the understanding of occurrence of superconductivity in A$_2$Cr$_3$As$_3$.