Acta Crystallographica Section E: Crystallographic Communications (Nov 2020)

The crystal structure of TlMgCl3 from 290 K to 725 K

  • Drew R. Onken,
  • Didier Perrodin,
  • Sven C. Vogel,
  • Edith D. Bourret,
  • Federico Moretti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989020013201
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 76, no. 11
pp. 1716 – 1719

Abstract

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The title compound, thallium magnesium trichloride, has been identified as a scintillator with both moderate gamma-stopping power and moderate light yield. Knowledge of its crystal structure is needed for further development. This work determines the crystal structure of TlMgCl3 to be hexagonal P63/mmc (No. 194) and isostructural with RbMgCl3, contrary to previously reported data. This structure was obtained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and was further confirmed by neutron diffraction measurements. Extending neutron diffraction measurements to high temperature, the data show that TlMgCl3 maintains this crystal structure from 290 K up through 725 K, approaching the melting point of 770 K. Anisotropic thermal expansion coefficients increase over this temperature range, from 31 to 38 × 10−6 K−1 along the a axis and from 19 to 34 × 10−6 K−1 along the c axis.

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