Phase transition and thermodynamics of thorium from first-principles calculations

We report on the first-principles study of the phase transition and thermodynamic properties of the thorium metal (Th) within the framework of quasiharmonic approximation. The structural properties of Th under pressure are well reproduced. It is found that the fcc–bct phase transition occurs at 70 GPa. Based on our calculated phonon dispersion curve that is in good agreement with experiment, the thermal equation of state and thermodynamic properties, such as thermal pressure, heat capacity and entropy are obtained. All the properties of Th under high pressure and high temperature are predicted successfully.     

室温下Fe62Ni27Mn11（wt%）合金的压致fcc-hcp相变

 本文采用Mao-Bell型金刚石对顶砧（DAC）及高压在位（in situ）粉末X光衍射照相方法研究了Fe₆₂Ni₂₇Mn₁₁（wt%）合金在0~43.2 GPa压力范围内的压致结构相变和等温压缩行为，实验结果表明，该合金在低压时为fcc结构，在19.4 GPa压力附近出现压致fcc→hcp结构相变，直到43.2 GPa一直保持fcc、hcp二相共存；相变过程中，二相的molar体积相同；高压hcp相得晶格参数比值c/a基本上不随压力而变，可以表示为c/a=1.630±0.006；在卸压过程中，hcp相可保持到5.8 GPa，当卸压到常压时，该合金完全恢复到fcc结构；用Murnaghan等温固体状态方程对其压缩数据进行最小二乘法拟合，得到B₀=(166±12) GPa，B₀'=5.2±0.5；本文还给出了该合金的压致fcc→hcp结构相变模型，并对存在很宽的二相共存区间问题进行了初步探讨。     

Phase transition of samarium under high pressure

Abstract

The DAC X-ray power photograph method was employed for studing the phase transition of samarium up to 26.3 GPa. The experimental results show that the dhcp and fcc high pressure phase of Sm appeared at about 4.0 and 12.5 GPa and room temperature respectively. The dhcp phase was kept until 19.6 GPa. A model for Sm-type -? dhcp -? fcc phase transition is provided in this paper.     

New beta(fcc)-cobalt to 210 GPa

We report a new phase transition in cobalt from the magnetic varepsilon(hcp) to a beta(fcc) phase, likely nonmagnetic, at 105 GPa. It occurs martensitically in an extended pressure region between 105 and 150 GPa without any apparent volume change. The fcc phase of Co is in systematic accordance with the 4d and 5d counterparts. The pressure-volume isotherm of beta-Co resembles those of alpha(fcc)-Ni and varepsilon(hcp)-Fe within 1%. The phase diagram of cobalt suggests that the fcc stability increases with increasing occupancy of d-band electrons from Fe to Co to Ni.     

Enhancement of superconductivity and evidence of structural instability in intercalated graphite CaC6 under high pressure

We measured the temperature dependent resistivity, varrho(T), of the intercalated graphite superconductor CaC6 as a function of pressure up to 16 GPa. We found a large linear increase of critical temperature, Tc, from the ambient pressure value 11.5 K up to 15.1 K, the largest value for intercalated graphite, at 7.5 GPa. At approximately 8 GPa, a jump of varrho and a sudden drop of Tc down to approximately 5 K indicates the occurrence of a phase transition. Our data analysis suggests that a pressure-induced phonon softening related to an in-plane Ca phonon mode is responsible for the Tc increase and that higher pressures greater, similar8 GPa lead to a structural transition into a new phase with a low Tc less, similar3 K.     

Lattice dynamics and superconductivity in cerium at high pressure

We have measured phonon dispersion relations of the high-pressure phase cerium-oC4 (α' phase with the α-uranium crystal structure) at 6.5 GPa by using inelastic x-ray scattering. Pronounced phonon anomalies are observed, which are remarkably similar to those of α-U. First-principles electronic structure calculations reproduce the anomalies and allow us to identify strong electron-phonon coupling as their origin. At the low-pressure end of its stability range, Ce-oC4 is on the verge of a lattice-dynamical instability and possibly a charge density wave. The superconducting transition temperatures of the fcc, oC4, and mC4 phases of Ce have been calculated, and the superconductivity observed experimentally by Wittig and Probst is attributed to the oC4 phase.     

十种稀土金属电阻的压力效应

 使用Bundy和Dunn发展起来的带有烧结金刚石砧的Drickamer型高压装置，用固定点测压法标定实验压力，在室温及0~43 GPa的压力范围内测量了稀土金属中Pr、Nd、Sm、Gd、Tb、Dy、Ho、Tm、Lu和Yb的电阻随压力的变化。在各稀土元素的电阻随压力变化的曲线上，观测到了若干“凸起”和斜率突变点，根据Jayaraman提出的三价稀土在压力作用下的相变顺序，得到了这些突（凸）变点分别对应着hcp→Sm-type→dhcp→fcc相变顺序中的某一类型的相变压力。此外还观测到了Pr、Gd、Tb的fcc相随着压力再增高而发生的相变，根据已报导的关于Pr的工作，推测Gd和Tb的这一相变应为fcc→dfcc相变，它们分别发生在22.0和24.5 GPa。在本工作所得结果基础上对Johansson的三价稀土总相图进行了修正。     

Dynamical stability and phase transition of ZrC under pressure

A comprehensive first principles study of structural, elastic, electronic, and phonon properties of zirconium carbide (ZrC) is reported within the density functional theory scheme. The aim is to primarily focus on the vibrational properties of this transition metal carbide to understand the mechanism of phase transition. The ground state properties such as lattice constant, elastic constants, bulk modulus, shear modulus, electronic band structure, and phonon dispersion curves (PDC) of ZrC in rock-salt (RS) and high-pressure CsCl structures are determined. The pressure-dependent PDCs are also reported in NaCl phase. The phonon modes become softer and finally attain imaginary frequency with the increase of pressure. The lattice degree of freedom is used to explain the phase transition. Static calculations predict the RS to CsCl phase transition to occur at 308?GPa at 0?K. Dynamical calculations lower this pressure by about 40?GPa. The phonon density of states, electron–phonon interaction coefficient, and Eliashberg's function are also presented. The calculated electron–phonon coupling constant λ and superconducting transition temperature agree reasonably well with the available experimental data.     

Phase Transition and Melting Curves of Calcium Fluoride via Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The phase transition and melting curves of CaF2 are investigated by using the general utility lattice programme （CULP） via the shell model with molecular dynamics method. By calculating the entropy H （at OK） and Cibbs free energy G^＊ （at 30OK）, we find that the phase transition pressure from the face-centred cubic （fee） structure to the orthorhombic structure is 11.40 CPa and 9.33 CPa at OK and 300K, respectively. The modified melting point of the fee CaF2 is in the range of 1650-1733K at OCPa. All these results are well consistent with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. We also obtain that the melting temperature of high pressure phase is 990-1073 K at 10 CPa. Moreover, the temperature dependences of the elastic constants Cij, bulk module B and shear module G are also predicted.     

Martensitic fcc-to-hcp transformation observed in xenon at high pressure

Angle-resolved x-ray diffraction patterns of Xe to 127 GPa indicate that the fcc-to-hcp transition occurs martensitically between 3 and 70 GPa in diamond-anvil cells without an intermediate phase. These data also reveal that the transition occurs by the introduction of stacking disorder in the fcc lattice at low pressure, which grows into hcp domains with increasing pressure. The small energy difference between the hcp and the fcc structures may allow the two phases to coexist over a wide pressure range. Evidence of similar stacking disorder and incipient growth of an hcp phase are also observed in solid Kr.     

Precursor effects of the Rhombohedral-to-Cubic Phase Transition in Indium Selenide

We report on the observation of precursor effects of the rhombohedral-to-cubic phase transition in Indium Selenide (InSe) with several experimental techniques. The pressure at which these precursor defects are first observed depends on the sensitivity of the experimental technique. In transport measurements, which are very sensitive to low defect concentrations, precursor effects are observed 5 to 6 GPa below the phase transition pressure whereas in X-ray diffraction measurements precursor effects are only observed 2 GPa below the phase transition pressure. We report optical absorption measurements, in which the precursor effects are shown by the growth and propagation of dark linear defects appearing 3 GPa below the phase transition pressure. On the base of a simple model of the stress field around edge dislocations, we attribute the darkening of the InSe samples to local phase transitions to a high-pressure modification along linear dislocations. These results agree with room-pressure and high-pressure Raman spectra of samples compressed up to 7-8 GPa, which show new phonon lines not corresponding to the low-pressure phase.     

High pressure polymorph of CdS predicted by first principles

Ab initio phonon calculations on CdS are performed to probe the high pressure structural behaviors. We predicted an unstable transverse acoustic (TA) mode for NaCl-CdS (B1) and a phase transition of B1→Pmmn driven by this soft mode is thus identified, excluding probable high pressure Cmcm phase. Furthermore, a softening TA phonon mode at the zone boundary M point of CsCl-CdS (B2) is predicted, which results in the phase transition from Pmmn to tetrahedral P4/nmm (B10). Enthalpy calculation reveals that Pmmn phase becomes energetically more favorable than the B1 phase over 51.2 GPa, and B10 phase is stable in a pressure range of 80.3-85.5 GPa, above which B10 phase will decompose into Cd and S.     

Electron transport properties of lithium and phase transitions at high pressures

The electric resistivity and thermopower of lithium have been precisely measured at high pressures (up to 8 GPa) and temperatures from room temperature to 100°C. Transition to the fcc phase of lithium has been analyzed. The hysteresis of the direct and inverse transitions is 0.3 GPa at room temperature, decreases slightly with an increase in the temperature, and is almost independent of the prehistory of the sample. The phase transition line on the P-T diagram has a positive slope of dP/dT = 0.03 GPa/K. It is assumed that the fcc phase of lithium, which is stable at a high pressure, can appear for kinetic regions from the 9R phase, which is intermediate in energy between the bcc and fcc modifications.     

Structural phase transitions in yttrium under ultrahigh pressures

X-ray diffraction studies were carried out on the rare earth metal yttrium up to 177?GPa in a diamond anvil cell at room temperature. Yttrium was compressed to 37% of its initial volume at the highest pressure. The rare earth crystal structure sequence hcp?→?Sm?type?→?dhcp?→?mixed(dhcp?+?fcc)?→?distorted fcc (dfcc) is observed in yttrium below 50?GPa. The dfcc (hR24) phase has been observed to persist in the pressure range of 50-95?GPa. A structural transition from dfcc to a low symmetry phase has been observed in yttrium at 99?±?4?GPa with a volume change of -?2.6%. This low symmetry phase has been identified as a monoclinic C2/m phase, which has also been observed in other rare earth elements under high pressures. The appearance of this low symmetry monoclinic phase in yttrium shows that its electronic structure under extreme conditions resembles that of heavy rare earth metals, with a significant increase in d-band character of the valence electrons and possibly some f-electron states near the Fermi level.     

Ab initio studies on ammonium iodine under high pressure

Ammonium iodine(NH_4I) as an important member of hydrogen-rich compounds has attracted a great deal of attention owing to its interesting structural changes triggered by the relative orientations of adjacent ammonium ions. Previous studies of ammonium iodide have remained in the low pressure range experimentally, which we first extended to so high pressure(250 GPa). We have investigated the structures of ammonium iodine under high pressure through ab initio evolutionary algorithm and total energy calculations based on density functional theory. The static enthalpy calculations show that phase V is stable until 85 GPa where a new phase Ibam is identified. Calculations of phonon spectra show that the Ibam phase is stable between 85 GPa and 101 GPa and the Cm phase is stable up to 130 GPa. In addition, ammonium iodine dissociates into NH_3, H_2, and I_2 at 74 GPa. Subsequently, we analyzed phonon spectra and electronic band structures, finding that phonon softening is not the reason of dissociation and NH_4I is always a semiconductor within the pressure range.     

Anomalies in the variation of elastic properties of cesium during phase transformations under a pressure up to 5 GPa

The pulsed ultrasonic method is used for studying polycrystalline cesium under a pressure up to 5 GPa. Elastic parameters and compression ratio of cesium are determined and anomalies in the elastic properties of cesium during phase transitions CsI-CsII-CsIII-CsIV are revealed. It is found that the CsII-CsIII electron-structure transformation is preceded by anomalous compressibility of the fcc phase of cesium and by softening of longitudinal and transverse acoustic modes of the cesium phonon spectrum.     

Pressure dependence of zone-boundary phonons in AlSb

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of hydrostatic pressure on zone-boundary and other critical-point phonon frequencies of AlSb by second-order Raman scattering. A softening of the TA(X), TA(L) and (L/T)A([Sgrave]) modes has been observed for pressures up to the first phase transition at 7.7 GPa. The LA(L) as well as the optical TO at X-, L-, and LO at [Sgrave]-, X-points harden with increasing pressure. Mode Griineisen parameters of all the resolved modes were calculated. Reflectivity measurements indicate that the high pressure phase above 7.7 GPa is metallic.     

Dynamics of the BiTeI lattice at high pressures

Raman measurements of the phonon spectrum of BiTeI at pressures of up to 20 GPa have been performed. A decrease in the linewidth of E² vibration by almost a factor of 2 with an increase in the pressure to 3 GPa has been detected. The frequencies of all four Raman active modes increase monotonically with the pressure. These lines are observed in spectra up to ～8 GPa. Sharp change in the spectrum occurs at pressures of 8–9 GPa, indicating a transition to the high-pressure phase, which holds up to 20 GPa. This transition is reversible and hardly has any hysteresis. A sample in the high-pressure phase is single crystal.     

First-principles study of the high pressure phase transition and lattice dynamics of cerium

We present a first-principles study of the phase transition and lattice dynamics of Ce within the framework of the density functional theory using the GGA+U method. Our calculated results denote that under pressure the transition path is α-Ce (fcc)→α″-Ce (monoclinic, with two atoms per unit cell)→bct-Ce (body centered tetragonal), and the transition pressures are located at 5.36 and 14.37 GPa, respectively. The equation of state in a wide range of pressure is consistent with the experimental data. During the γ-α phase transition, the magnetic moment disappears gradually, which is mainly due to the strong interaction between the 4f and 5d electrons. By calculating the free energies from phonon dispersions including electronic contribution, the obtained γ-α transition temperature at zero pressure is 148 K. From the Blackman diagram of dimensionless elastic constant ratios, we can find that both γ- and α-Ce show negative Cauchy pressure—C₄₄>C₁₂.     

High-pressure phases of thorium and uranium compounds with the rocksalt structure

Abstract

The high-pressure crystal structures of the actinide compounds ThX and UX (X= C, N, P, S, As, Se, Sb, Te) have been studied by X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation, in the pressure range up to about 60 GPa Distorted fcc structures were observed for UC (27 GPa), UN (29 GPa), UP (10/28 GPa), US (10 GPa) and ThS (20 GPa). No phase transition has been observed for ThC and ThN. Compounds with As, Se, Sb all transform to the CsCl structure. ThP transform to the CsCl structure at 30 GPa. ThTe has the CsCl structure at ambient pressure and no further phase transition has been observed. UTe transforms to the CsCl structure at 9 GPa.