title: Noblest of all metals is structurally unstable at high pressure.
abstract: In a series of experiments in externally electrically heated diamond anvil cells we demonstrate that at pressures above approximately 240 GPa gold adopts a hexagonal-close-packed structure. Ab initio calculations predict that at pressures about 250 GPa different stacking sequences of close-packed atomic layers in gold become virtually degenerate in energy, strongly supporting the experimental observations.
authors.affiliation: Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dubrovinsky
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dubrovinskaia
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Crichton
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mikhaylushkin
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Simak
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Abrikosov
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johansson