Strong magnetoelastic coupling in VOCl: Neutron and synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction study

We present a combined neutron and synchrotron powder-diffraction study of the crystal and magnetic structures of VOCl. The occurrence of antiferromagnetic order in VOCl is accompanied by a monoclinic distortion. The high sensitivity of the magnetic interaction parameters on V-O-V bond angles and V-V distances yields strong magnetoelastic coupling which implies the structural distortion below TN as well as anomalous structural effects in the paramagnetic phase.