Synthesis and crystal structure analysis of the magnetic ternary compound Mn2GeTe4

Abstract

Samples of the ternary phase Mn2GeTe4 were synthesized by direct fusion using the anneal method. X-ray powder diffraction results indicated that this material crystallizes with orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pnma, and unit cell parameters: a = 13.950(2) Å, b = 8.115(1) Å, c = 6.592(1) Å, V = 746.2(2) Å3. The Rietveld refinement converged to the figures of merit Rp = 6.9%, Rwp = 8.6%, Rexp = 5.6% and X2 = 2.4. Mn2GeTe4 is the first telluride of the II2-IV-VI4 family that crystallizes with olivine-type structure.