Interplay of structural chemistry and magnetism in perovskites; A study of CaLn2Ni2WO9; Ln=La, Pr, Nd

Polycrystalline samples of CaLn2Ni2WO9 (Ln=La, Pr, Nd) have been synthesized and characterised by a combination of X-ray and neutron diffraction, electron microscopy and magnetometry. Each composition adopts a perovskite-like structure with a~5.50, b~5.56, c~7.78 Å, β~90.1° in space group P2 1 /n. Of the two crystallographically distinct six-coordinate sites, one is occupied entirely (Ln=Pr) or predominantly (Ln=La, Nd) by Ni2+ and the other by Ni2+ and W6+ in a ratio of approximately 1:2. None of the compounds shows long-range magnetic order at 5 K. The magnetometry data show that the magnetic moments of the Ni2+ cations form a spin glass below ~30 K in each case. The Pr 3+ moments in CaPr2Ni2WO9 also freeze but the Nd3+ moments in CaNd2Ni2WO9 do not. This behaviour is contrasted with that observed in other (A,A')B2B'O 9 perovskites