Structure change of monoclinic ZrO baddeleyite involving softenings of bulk modulus and atom vibrations

Fukui, Hiroshi*; Fujimoto, Manato*; Akahama, Yuichi*; Sano, Asami   ; Hattori, Takanori   

Monoclinic ZrO baddeleyite exhibits anomalous softenings of bulk modulus and atom vibrations with compression. We have investigated the pressure evolution of the structure by neutron powder diffraction combined with ab-initio calculations. The present results showed that the anomalous pressure response of the bulk modulus is related not to the change in the bonding characters but to the deformation of an oxygen sublattice, especially one of layers made of oxygens in the crystallographic * plane. The layer consists of two parallelograms; one is rotating with little distortion and the other is being distorted with increasing pressure. This deformation of this layer makes one of Zr-O distances long, resulting in the softening of some atom vibrational modes.