Rattling in the Quadruple Perovskite CuCu₃V₄O₁₂

Of particular interest is a peculiar motion of guest atoms or ions confined to nanospace in cage compounds, called rattling. While rattling provides unexplored physical properties through the guest-host interactions, it has only been observed in a very limited class of materials. Herein, we introduce an A-site-ordered quadruple perovskite, CuCu3 V4 O12 , as a new family of cage compounds. This novel AA'3 B4 O12 -type perovskite has been obtained by a high-pressure synthesis technique and structurally characterized to have cubic Im3 symmetry with an ionic model of Cu(2+) Cu(2+) 3 V(4+) 4 O12 . The thermal displacement parameter of the A-site Cu(2+) ion is as large as Uiso ≈0.045 Å(2) at 300 K, indicating its large-amplitude thermal oscillations in the oversized icosahedral cages. Remarkably, the presence of localized phonon modes associated with rattling of the A-site Cu(2+) ion manifests itself in the low-temperature specific heat data. This work sheds new light on the structure-property relations in perovskites.