Kenichi Takemura

High-pressure powder x-ray diffraction experiments have revealed that sodium and gold react at room temperature and form Na-Au intermetallic compounds under high pressure. We have identified four intermetallic phases up to 60 GPa. The first phase (phase I) is the known Na2Au with the tetragonal CuAl2-type structure. It changed to the second phase (phase II) at $\sim${}0.8 GPa, which has the composition Na3Au with the trigonal Cu3As-type or hexagonal Cu3P-type structure. Phase II further transformed to phase III at 3.6 GPa. Phase III has the same composition, Na3Au, with the cubic BiF3-type structure. Finally, phase III changed to phase IV at $\sim${}54~GPa. Phase IV gives broad diffraction peaks, indicating large structural disorder.

High-pressure powder x-ray diffraction experiments have revealed that sodium and gold react at room temperature and form new Na-Au intermetallic compounds under high pressure. We have identified four intermetallic phases up to 60 GPa. The first phase (phase I) is the known Na2Au with the tetragonal CuAl2-type structure. It changed to the second phase (phase II) at about 0.8 GPa, which has the composition Na3Au with the trigonal Cu3As-type or hexagonal Cu3P-type structure. Phase II further transformed to phase III at 3.6 GPa. Phase III has the same composition Na3Au with the cubic BiF3-type structure. Finally, phase III changed to phase IV at around 54 GPa. Phase IV gives broad diffraction peaks, indicating large structural disorder.

In order to study magnetic states in Fe-hydride under pressure, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the FeK-edge has been measured up to 27.5 GPa. As a result, hydrogenation from bcc-Fe to dhcp-FeH occurs within a narrow region of 3.2-3.8 GPa, which is clearly observed by the dichroic profile in dhcp-FeH differing from that in bcc-Fe. Influence of H atoms on Fe 3dand 4pelectronic states is discussed using the pressure-dependent XMCD and the first-principles calculation.

Pressure scales are intimately related to the stress conditions of the actual experiments performed at high pressures. In the present article, I describe the effect of non-hydrostaticity on the pressure standard, comparing two X-ray data sets of gold taken with a He-pressure medium. The analysis of the uniaxial stress component clearly indicates different stress conditions in the He-medium in the two experiments. By taking the difference in the stress states into account, the equation of state parameters of gold are better constrained. This suggests the importance of evaluating the uniaxial stress in the pressure standard in any high-pressure experiments performed beyond the hydrostatic limit of the pressure medium.

The application of pressure to solid iodine forces the molecules in the crystal to approach each other until intermolecular distances become comparable to the bond length of iodine; at this point, the molecules lose their identity and are essentially dissociated. According to room-temperature X-ray diffraction studies, this process involves direct dissociation of iodine molecules at about 21 GPa, whereas spectroscopic observations have identified intermediate molecular phases at pressures ranging from 15 to 30 GPa. Here we present quasi-hydrostatic powder X-ray diffraction measurements that clearly reveal an intermediate phase during the pressure-induced dissociation of solid iodine. We find that, similar to the behaviour seen in uranium, the structure of this intermediate phase is incommensurately modulated, with the nearest interatomic distances continuously distributed over the range 2.86-3.11 A. The shortest of these interatomic distances falls between the bond length of iodine in the molecular crystal (2.75 A) and the nearest interatomic distance in the fully dissociated monatomic crystal (2.89 A), implying that the intermediate phase is a transient state during molecular dissociation. We expect that further measurements at different temperatures will help to elucidate the origin and stability of the incommensurate structure, which might lead to a better understanding of the molecular-level mechanism of the pressure-induced dissociation seen here and in the molecular crystals of hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.