Evidence for electronic phase separation between orbital orderings in SmVO3

We report evidence for phase coexistence of orbital orderings of different symmetry in SmVO$_3$ by high resolution X-Ray powder diffraction. The phase coexistence is triggered by an antiferromagnetic ordering of the vanadium spins near 130K, below an initial orbital ordering near 200K. The phase coexistence is the result of the intermediate ionic size of samarium coupled to exchange striction at the vanadium spin ordering.