  The crystal structures of potassium and cesium bistrifluoroacetates were
determined at room temperature and at 20 K and 14 K, respectively, with the
single crystal neutron diffraction technique. The crystals belong to the I2/a
and A2/a monoclinic space groups, respectively, and there is no visible phase
transition. For both crystals, the trifluoroacetate entities form dimers linked
by very short hydrogen bonds lying across a centre of inversion. Any proton
disorder or double minimum potential can be rejected. The inelastic neutron
scattering spectral profiles in the OH stretching region between 500 and 1000
cm^{-1} previously published [Fillaux and Tomkinson, Chem. Phys. 158 (1991)
113] are reanalyzed. The best fitting potential has the major characteristics
already reported for potassium hydrogen maleate [Fillaux et al. Chem. Phys. 244
(1999) 387]. It is composed of a narrow well containing the ground state and a
shallow upper part corresponding to dissociation of the hydrogen bond.
