G. N. Chesnut, Y. Vohra
Feb 22, 1999
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0
Influential Citations
39
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Journal
Physical Review Letters
Abstract
Ytterbium (Yb), a member of the rare earth group metals with a filled f shell and a divalent electronic character, has been studied under static high pressures in a diamond anvil cell to 202thinspthinspGPa. We report a new transformation from a face-centered-cubic structure to a hexagonal phase with 3thinspthinspatoms/cell (space group P3{sub 1}21 referred to as hP3 ) at 98{plus_minus}5 GPa . This hP3 phase is similar to that observed in trivalent neodymium and samarium at pressures near 40thinspthinspGPa. Our high pressure study thus clearly demonstrates that Yb is no longer an {open_quotes}irregular{close_quotes} member of the rare earth metals, and divalent to trivalent electronic transition is completed at megabar pressures. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}