High-pressure silica: densification in two steps.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Takehiko Yagi.
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Synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed that a new polymorph of FeAlO3 could be synthesized at about 1800 K and 72 GPa. This phase can be indexed on an orthorhombic cell and transforms into the trigonal form on release of pressure. The c/a ratio of about 2.71 of the trigonal phase suggests corundum structure of FeAlO3 rather than LiNbO3 or ilmenite structure. This conclusion also suggests that the high-pressure orthorhombic phase could be the Rh2O3(II) structure rather than the GdFeO3-type perovskite structure.
Superconductivity at high temperatures is expected in elements with low atomic numbers, based in part on conventional BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) theory. For example, it has been predicted that when hydrogen is compressed to its dense metallic phase (at pressures exceeding 400 GPa), it will become superconducting with a transition temperature above room temperature. Such pressures are difficult to produce in a laboratory setting, so the predictions are not easily confirmed. Under normal conditions lithium is the lightest metal of all the elements, and may become superconducting at lower pressures; a tentative observation of a superconducting transition in Li has been previously reported. Here we show that Li becomes superconducting at pressures greater than 30 GPa, with a pressure-dependent transition temperature (T(c)) of 20 K at 48 GPa. This is the highest observed T(c) of any element; it confirms the expectation that elements with low atomic numbers will have high transition temperatures, and suggests that metallic hydrogen will have a very high T(c). Our results confirm that the earlier tentative claim of superconductivity in Li was correct.