BaZnGeO4 undergoes many phase transitions from I to V phase. The highest temperature phase I has a BaAl2O4 type structure with a hexagonal lattice. Recent X-ray diffraction study showed that the incommensurate (IC) lattice modulation appears along the c axis in the III and IV phases with a period of about 4c, and a commensurate (C) phase with a modulated period of 4c exists between the III and IV phases in the narrow temperature region (—58°C to —47°C on cooling), called the III' phase. The modulations in the IC phases are considered displacive type, but the detailed structures have not been studied. It is also not clear whether the modulation changes into periodic arrays of discommensurations (DC’s) near the III-III' and IV-V phase transition temperature as found in the ferroelectric materials such as Rb2ZnCl4.At room temperature (III phase) satellite reflections were seen around the fundamental reflections in a diffraction pattern (Fig.1) and they aligned along a certain direction deviated from the c* direction, which indicates that the modulation wave vector q tilts from the c* axis. The tilt angle is about 2 degree at room temperature and depends on temperature.
In situ observation of phase transition in polycrystalline under high-pressure high-strain-rate shock compression by X-ray diffraction