Negative (and very low) thermal expansion in ReO₃ from 5 to 300 K

This paper reports the accurate measurement of the ReO₃ cell parameter as a function of temperature. The thermal expansion is confirmed to be negative over most of the temperature range from 5 to 300 K. The main problems with the measurements are the very small variations (in the range of 10^-5 Å) in the cell parameter at each temperature, requiring tight control of the stability and reliability of instrumental effects. In particular, achieving monochromator stability over time might be challenging with the high energy and high beam current variations of a third-generation synchrotron facility. On the other hand, such effects are usually checked by the addition of silicon as an internal standard, but the accuracy (and precision) of the published thermal expansion (which is not certified) might not be sufficient for its use when dealing with very small cell parameter variations.