Performance of different types of detectors in a high-pressure X-ray study of phase transition

Abstract

Phase transitions in praseodymium and lanthanum under pressure have been studied using a synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction technique. A structure refinement of the distorted fcc phase of Pr using diffraction data collected with an imaging plate (IP) detector demonstrate that among some possible structures the rhombohedral structure with space group R3m best reproduces the observed diffraction pattern. The distorted fcc-fcc phase transition in La was observed as a function of the temperature at 23 GPa using a CCD-based detector. A five-minute exposure sufficiently long to measure the intensities of very weak superlattice reflections from the distorted fcc phase, which has been found to transform to the fcc phase at 550 K. The performance of the IP and a CCD-based detector are compared and their future developments discussed.