Local structure of ReO$_3$ at ambient pressure from neutron total scattering study

Abstract

A hypothesis that the local rotations of ReO$_6$ octahedra persist in the crystallographically untilted ambient phase of ReO$_3$ is examined by the high-resolution neutron time-of-flight total scattering based atomic pair distribution function analysis. Three candidate models were tested, Pm$\bar{3}$m, P4/mbm, and Im$\bar{3}$, for the local structure of ReO$_3$ at ambient pressure and 12 K, and both quantitative and qualitative assessment of the data were performed. No evidence for large local octahedral rotations was found, suggesting that the local and the average structure are the same (Pm$\bar{3}$m) as normally assumed.