Discovery of a Neutral-to-Ionic Phase Transition in Organic Materials

J. B. Torrance; J. E. Vazquez; J. J. Mayerle; V. Y. Lee

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.46.253

Discovery of a Neutral-to-Ionic Phase Transition in Organic Materials

J. B. Torrance, J. E. Vazquez, J. J. Mayerle, and V. Y. Lee

Phys. Rev. Lett. 46, 253 – Published 26 January 1981

Abstract

A systematic study of mixed stacked organic charge-transfer compounds shows that these materials are either neutral or ionic and that they range from being near the neutral-ionic boundary to being far away. Under pressure, several neutral compounds near this boundary are found to undergo a reversible phase transition to an ionic ground state. This is the first observation of a neutral-to-ionic transition in any kind of material.

Received 25 August 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.46.253

Authors & Affiliations

J. B. Torrance^*, J. E. Vazquez, J. J. Mayerle, and V. Y. Lee

IBM Research Laboratory, San Jose, California 95193

^*On leave from January to September 1981 at Physics Laboratory III, The Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark. Kindly address correspondence in care of Dr. C. S. Jacobsen.