Variable temperature structural study of bismuth lead vanadate, BiPb2VO6.

Abstract

At room temperature, monoclinic BiPb2VO6 is a polar, noncentrosymmetric, second harmonic generation active material and its crystal structure is among the more complex to be solved ab initio from powder diffraction data. In its stability range, BiPb2VO6 also exists in a high symmetry, orthorhombic form. Both phases have been structurally characterized by a combination of X-ray and neutron diffraction data. Their mutual relationship, as well as that to the known compounds of the BiM(2)AO(6) (M = Mg, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and A = P, V, As) family, has been established.