Microwave dielectric study of spin-Peierls and charge ordering transitions in (TMTTF)₂PF₆ salts

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We report a study of the 16.5 GHz dielectric function of hydrogenated and deuterated organic salts (TMTTF)₂PF₆. The temperature behavior of the dielectric function is consistent with short-range polar order whose relaxation time decreases rapidly below the charge ordering temperature. If this transition has more a relaxor character in the hydrogenated salt, charge ordering is strengthened in the deuterated one where the transition temperature has increased by more than thirty percent. Anomalies in the dielectric function are also observed in the spin-Peierls ground state revealing some intricate lattice effects in a temperature range where both phases coexist. The variation of the spin-Peierls ordering temperature under magnetic field appears to follow a mean-field prediction despite the presence of spin-Peierls fluctuations over a very wide temperature range in the charge ordered state of these salts.