Identification of Phase Transitions and Metastability in Dynamically Compressed Antimony Using Ultrafast X-Ray Diffraction

A L Coleman; M G Gorman; R Briggs; R S McWilliams; D McGonegle; C A Bolme; A E Gleason; D E Fratanduono; R F Smith; E Galtier; H J Lee; B Nagler; E Granados; G W Collins; J H Eggert; J S Wark; M I McMahon

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.255704

Identification of Phase Transitions and Metastability in Dynamically Compressed Antimony Using Ultrafast X-Ray Diffraction

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Jun 28;122(25):255704. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.255704.

Authors

A L Coleman^{1

2}, M G Gorman^{1

2}, R Briggs^{1

2}, R S McWilliams¹, D McGonegle³, C A Bolme⁴, A E Gleason^{4

5}, D E Fratanduono², R F Smith², E Galtier⁶, H J Lee⁶, B Nagler⁶, E Granados⁶, G W Collins⁷, J H Eggert², J S Wark³, M I McMahon¹

Affiliations

¹ SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, and Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
² Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94500, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
⁴ Shock and Detonation Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
⁵ Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
⁶ Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁷ Department of Mechanical of Engineering, University of Rochester, 235 Hopeman Building, P.O. Box 270132, Rochester, New York 12647, USA.

PMID: 31347883
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.255704

Abstract

Ultrafast x-ray diffraction at the LCLS x-ray free electron laser has been used to resolve the structural behavior of antimony under shock compression to 59 GPa. Antimony is seen to transform to the incommensurate, host-guest phase Sb-II at ∼11 GPa, which forms on nanosecond timescales with ordered guest-atom chains. The high-pressure bcc phase Sb-III is observed above ∼15 GPa, some 8 GPa lower than in static compression studies, and mixed Sb-III/liquid diffraction are obtained between 38 and 59 GPa. An additional phase which does not exist under static compression, Sb-I^{'}, is also observed between 8 and 12 GPa, beyond the normal stability field of Sb-I, and resembles Sb-I with a resolved Peierls distortion. The incommensurate Sb-II high-pressure phase can be recovered metastably on release to ambient pressure, where it is stable for more than 10 ns.