Exceptional anisotropic thermal expansion in magnetic CrSb

Negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials are unusual compounds that shrink when heated and expand when cooled,
garnering considerable attention due to their potential applications. CrSb is a NTE material resulting from a magnetic transition,
which exhibits striking anisotropy in its thermal expansion, with a coefficient exceeding 180 × 10⁻⁶ K⁻¹ along different
crystallographic axes — the largest reported among all known alloys. Understanding this peculiar behavior of CrSb represents an
intriguing topic of study that can help control the thermal expansion of materials. By employing EXAFS spectroscopy, we aim to
uncover the mechanisms driving this exceptional behavior.