title: Anomalous bond length behavior and a new solid phase of bromine under pressure.
abstract: The behavior of diatomic molecular solids under pressure have attracted great interest and been extensively studied. Under ambient pressure, the structure of bromine is known to be a molecular phase (phase I). With increasing pressure, it transforms into an incommensurate phase (phase V) before eventually to a monoatomic phase (phase II). However, between phases I and V, the interatomic distance was found to first increase with pressure and then decreased abruptly. This anomalous bond length behavior is accompanied by the splitting of the Raman bands. These phenomena have not been resolved. Here we suggest a new solid phase that explains the Raman spectra. Furthermore, the anomalous bond length behavior is found to be the result of subtle second neighbor intermolecular interactions and is an intrinsic property of bromine in molecular phases.
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, P. R. China.|Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2 Canada.|Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2 Canada.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2 Canada.|State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2 Canada.
authors.forename: Yuanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan