ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering of Green Dioptase to Unravel the Motion of the Water Molecules

Abstract: Green dioptase is a naturally occurring mineral, that has a deep green colour, similar to that of an emerald, and with a chemical formula of CuSiO3.H2O. The Cu lies in quasi-1D chains and has three nearest neighbours, two along the chains and one with the adjacent chain. Since there are only three Cu nearest neighbours, this has led to some speculation for more exotic forms of magnetism; however our current work has shown that the system behaves like a 3D magnet at low temperatures. One unresolved issue is the location and behaviour of the water molecules. We intend to rectify this and have so far conducted neutron diffraction experiments on single crystals to allow us to locate the protons and water molecules. We have found evidence that the water molecules are dynamic this may affect other properties. Using Quasi-elastic neutron scattering we intend to probe this further.

Principal Investigator: Dr Adam Berlie
Experimenter: Dr Mark Telling
Experimenter: Dr Ian Terry
Local Contact: Dr Ian Silverwood

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1810776

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1810776

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Adam Berlie et al; (2018): Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering of Green Dioptase to Unravel the Motion of the Water Molecules, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1810776

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.