Liquid-liquid phase transitions of phosphorus via constant-pressure first-principles molecular dynamics simulations.
Pressure-induced phase transitions in liquid phosphorus have been studied by constant-pressure first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. By compressing a low-pressure liquid which consists of the tetrahedral P4 molecules, a structural phase transition from the molecular to polymeric liquid (a high-pressure phase) observed in the recent experiment by Katayama et al. [Nature (London) 403, 170 (2000)] was successfully realized. It is found that this transition is caused by a breakup of the tetrahedral molecules with large volume contraction. The same transition is also realized by heating. This indicates that only the polymeric liquid can stably exist at high temperature.
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Computational Science Division, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako Saitama 351-0198, Japan. tetsuya@atlas.riken.go.jp