Mechanisms of the antiferro-electric ordering in superprotonic conductors Cs3H(SeO4)2 and Cs3D(SeO4)2.

Wide ranges of absorbance spectra were measured to elucidate a difference in the antiferro-electric (AF) ordering mechanisms below 50 and 168 K in Cs3H(SeO4)2 and Cs3D(SeO4)2, respectively. Collective excitations due to deuterons successfully observed at 610 cm-1 exhibit a remarkable isotope effect. This indicates that the transfer state in the dimer of Cs3D(SeO4)2 is dominated by a deuteron hopping in contrast to Cs3H(SeO4)2, where a proton hopping makes a tiny contribution compared to a phonon-assisted proton tunneling (PAPT) associated with 440-cm-1 defbend . The fluctuation relevant to the AF ordering in Cs3D(SeO4)2 is not driven by the conventional deuteron hopping but by the phonon-assisted deuteron hopping associated with 310-cm-1 defbend . Consequently, Cs3D(SeO4)2 has a distinct ordering mechanism from Cs3H(SeO4)2, in which quantum fluctuations toward the AF ordering are enhanced through the PAPT associated with the in-phase libration.