Oxides of the form ABO4 with A = K, Rb, Cs and B = Ru and Os have been
synthesized and characterized by diffraction and magnetic techniques.
For A = K the oxides adopted the tetragonal (I41/a) scheelite structure.
RbOsO4, which crystallizes as a scheelite at room temperature,
underwent a continuous phase transition to I41/amd near 550 K. RbRuO4 and CsOsO4 were found to crystallize in the orthorhombic (Pnma) pseudoscheelite structure, and both displayed discontinuous phase
transitions to I41/a at
high temperatures. CsOsO4 was determined to undergo a phase
transition to a P21/c structure below 140 K. CsRuO4 crystallizes with a baryte-type
structure at room temperature. Upon heating CsRuO4 a first
order phase transition to the scheelite structure in I41/a is observed at 400 K. A continuous
phase transition is observed to P212121 below 140 K. DC magnetic susceptibility data
is consistent with long-range antiferromagnetic ordering at low temperatures
for all compounds except for CsOsO4, which is paramagnetic
to 2 K. The effective magnetic moments are in agreement with the spin
only values for an S = 1/2 quantum magnet. Effective
magnetic moments calculated for Os compounds were lower than their
Ru counterparts, reflective of an enhanced spin orbit coupling effect.
A magnetic structure is proposed for RbRuO4 consisting
of predominately antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering along the 001 direction,
with canting of spins in the 100 plane. A small ordered magnetic moment
of 0.77 μB was determined.