Short-Range Order and Dynamics in Crystalline α-TeO2

The short-range order and dynamics in crystalline α-TeO2 have been investigated by neutron and X-ray total scattering and by Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data. The true lengths of the two bonds in a Te–O–Te bridge are 1.882(1) and 2.117(1) Å, and the high valence, 1.293, of the strong, short bond is balanced by the low valence, 0.686, of the weak, long bond. The root-mean-square (rms) thermal variation, 0.083(1) Å, in the long bond length is nearly twice the rms thermal variation, 0.048(1) Å, in the short bond length because the largest motion of both Te and O atoms is perpendicular to the short bonds. A bond-valence model for the thermal variation in bond lengths, in which both the average and the instantaneous positions of the atoms conform to bond-valence requirements, accounts closely for the observed distribution of Te–O distances in α-TeO2. This has important implications for the interpretation of diffraction experiments on tellurite glasses.