The Use of Quartz as an Internal Pressure Standard in High-Pressure Crystallography

Abstract

The unit-cell parameters of quartz, SiO2, have been determined by single-crystal diffraction at 22 pressures to a maximum pressure of 8.9 GPa (at room temperature) with an average precision of 1 part in 9000. Pressure was determined by the measurement of the unit-cell volume of CaF2 fluorite included in the diamond-anvil pressure cell. The variation of quartz unit-cell parameters with pressure is described by: a −4.91300 (11) = −0.0468 (2) P + 0.00256 (7) P 2 − 0.000094 (6) P 3, c − 5.40482 (17) = − 0.03851 (2) P + 0.00305 (7) P 2 − 0.000121 (6) P 3, where P is in GPa and the cell parameters are in ångstroms. The volume–pressure data of quartz are described by a Birch–Murnaghan third-order equation of state with parameters V 0 = 112.981 (2) å3, K T0 = 37.12 (9) GPa and K′ = 5.99 (4). Refinement of K′′ in a fourth-order equation of state yielded a value not significantly different from the value implied by the third-order equation. The use of oriented quartz single crystals is proposed as an improved internal pressure standard for high-pressure single-crystal diffraction experiments in diamond-anvil cells. A measurement precision of 1 part in 10 000 in the volume of quartz leads to a precision in pressure measurement of 0.009 GPa at 9 GPa.