Crystal Structure of Gadolinium Orthoferrite, GdFeO3

Abstract

The crystal structure of gadolinium orthoferrite, GdFeO₃, has been determined from single‐crystal x‐ray data. There are four GdFeO₃ distorted perovskite units in the orthorhombic cell with lattice constants a=5.346, b=5.616, c=7.668, all ±0.004 A. The structure is solved on the basis that the most probable space group is D_2h(16)— Pbnm. However, although the atomic coordinates lead to very good agreement between calculated and observed reflection amplitudes, there are at least very slight deviations from the centrosymmetric space group because the iron sublattices are imperfectly antiferromagnetic.