Neutron scattering study on the structural transition of quasi-one-dimensional conductor K0.3MoO3

Preliminary results of the neutron diffraction and inelastic scattering studies on the quasi-one-dimensional conductor K 0.3 MoO 3 with a metal-insulator transition are reported. The temperature dependence of the intensity of the superlattice reflection is found to be approximately described by a simple equation. A phonon mode seems to have an almost complete softening at the transition temperature T c . The existence of the large central peak in the inelastic spectra above T c suggest that the local correlation between electrons is very strong. The wavevector of the charge density wave smoothly approaches the commensurate one, as the temperature is lowered and lock-in transition does not occur down to T approximately=6K.