{
  "abstract": "Established routes to structural chirality in inorganic crystals predominantly depend on symmetry-lowering atomic displacements of an achiral parent structure. We show that chirality can instead be forced by the short-range order of two anion species over the sites of an achiral parent, independent of atomic displacements. ReO$_3$-type oxyfluorides with a 2:1 anion stoichiometry, such as NbO$_2$F, exhibit two ordering patterns, cis octahedral coordination and period-three anion-chain ordering, both of which are rooted in the off-centring of $d^0$ cations. By direct enumeration, we prove that every arrangement combining both orderings on the smallest commensurate cell is chiral, belonging to a Sohncke space group. For NbO$_2$F, density-functional theory (DFT) calculations predict a homochiral $P3_121$ ground state. Wang-Landau Monte Carlo simulations of a DFT-trained cluster-expansion model predict that the chiral phase remains the equilibrium state up to a first-order transition at 494 K. We also identify three known vacancy-ordered compounds, BaZnO$_2$, BaCoO$_2$ and $β$-Fe$_2$SeO, whose structures each map onto one of the enumerated chiral arrangements. Together, these results establish short-range order as a route to structural chirality, and mark heteroanionic and vacancy-ordered materials in which both orderings are active as candidates for new chiral phases.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.04841",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Benjamin J. Morgan"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vf3zzykrg2va.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.04841",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6vf3zzykrg2va",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.04841",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.mtrl-sci"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2504|Crystal Structures and Properties"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7196984156",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.04841",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vf3zzykrg2va.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:36:28Z",
      "native_id": "2608.04841",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.04841"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.mtrl-sci",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Structural Chirality from Short-Range Order in Heteroanionic Materials",
  "title_text": "Structural Chirality from Short-Range Order in Heteroanionic Materials",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:20:47Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6vf3zzykrg2va",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}