A neutron diffraction refinement of the low temperature phase of NaNO2

Abstract

The structural nature of the spontaneous polarization of NaNO/sub 2/ below its transition point was investigated by neutron diffraction. A set of (Okl) single crystal data was collected at room temperature. The positional coordinates and their standard deviations were compared with those of Truter and Carpenter. The spontaneous polarization calculated on the basis of simple Na/sup +/, N/sup 3+/ and O/sup 2-/ ions was 74 mu coulombs/ cm/sup 2/ which was off by an order of magnitude from the observed value of 7 mu coulombs/cm/sup 2/. This was a result of the highly covalent nature of the nitrite group. (M.C.G.)