title: Structural phase transition of vanadium at 69 GPa.
abstract: A phase transition was observed at 63-69 GPa and room temperature in vanadium with synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The transition is characterized as a rhombohedral lattice distortion of the body-centered-cubic vanadium without a discontinuity in the pressure-volume data, thus representing a novel type of transition that has never been observed in elements. Instead of driven by the conventional s-d electronic transition mechanism, the phase transition could be associated with the softening of C44 trigonal elasticity tensor that originates from the combination of Fermi surface nesting, band Jahn-Teller distortion, and electronic topological transition.
authors.affiliation: HPCAT, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Building 434E, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. yding@hpcat.aps.anl.gov
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: Jinfu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Ho-kwang
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Mao