No Arabic abstract
The results reported by Wei et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 255502 (2020)] can be confronted with predictive, quantitative theories of negative thermal expansion (NTE) and pressure-induced softening, allowing to corroborate, or invalidate certain approaches. Motivated to corroborate the quantitative predictions of the recent Coulomb Floppy Network (CFN) microscopic theory of vibrational and thermomechanical properties of empty perovskite crystals [Tkachenko and Zaliznyak, arXiv:1908.11643 (2019)], we compared theory prediction for the mean-squared transverse displacement of the F atoms, U$_{perp}$, with that reported in Fig. 5 of Wei et al. and observed a marked discrepancy (an order-of-magnitude larger than the error bar). We then compared these results with the previously published Xray diffraction data of Greve, et al. [JACS 132, 15496 (2010)] and the neutron diffraction data of Wendt, et al. [Science Advances 5 (2019), 10.1126/sciadv.aay2748]. We found the latter two data sets to be in a good agreement with each other, as well as with the prediction of CFN theory. We thus conclude that U$_{perp}$ values reported in Fig. 5 of Wei et al. are substantially incorrect. The purpose of this Comment is twofold: (i) to caution the researchers against using the U$_{perp}$ data of Wei et al. for quantitative comparisons with theory, and (ii) to encourage Wei et al. to reconsider their analysis and obtain a reliable U$_{perp}$ data by better accounting for the beam transmission and attenuation effects.
We investigate the temperature dependence of the pressure-induced softening in the negative thermal expansion material Zn(CN)$_2$ using neutron powder diffraction and molecular dynamics simulations. Both the simulation and experiment show that the pressure-induced softening only occurs above a minimum temperature and also weakens at high temperatures.
Nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering on quartz structured 57FePO4 as a function of pressure, up to 8 GPa reveals hardening of the low-energy phonons under applied pressures up to 1.5 GPa, followed by a large softening at 1.8 GPa upon approaching the phase transition pressure of ~2 GPa. The pressure-induced phase transitions in quartz-structured compounds have been predicted to be related to a soft phonon mode at the Brillouin-zone boundary (1/3, 1/3, 0) and to the break-down of the Born-stability criteria. Our results provide the first experimental evidence of this predicted phonon softening.
The correlation between colossal magnetocapacitance (CMC) and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) in CdCr2S4 system has been revealed. The CMC is induced in polycrystalline Cd0.97In0.03Cr2S4 by annealing in cadmium vapor. At the same time, an insulator-metal transition and a concomitant CMR are observed near the Curie temperature. In contrast, after the same annealing treatment, CdCr2S4 displays a typical semiconductor behavior and does not show magnetic field dependent dielectric and electric transport properties. The simultaneous occurrence or absence of CMC and CMR effects implies that the CMC in the annealed Cd0.97In0.03Cr2S4 could be explained qualitatively by a combination of CMR and Maxwell-Wagner effect.
The classical motion of gliding dislocation lines in slip planes of crystalline solid helium leads to plastic deformation even at temperatures far below the Debye temperature and can affect elastic properties. In this work we argue that the gliding of dislocations and plasticity may be the origin of many observed elastic anomalies in solid He-4, which have been argued to be connected to supersolidity. We present a dislocation motion model that describes the stress-strain $tau$-$epsilon$ curves and work hardening rate $dtau/depsilon$ of a shear experiment performed at constant strain rate $dot{epsilon}$ in solid helium. The calculated $dtau/depsilon$ exhibits strong softening with increasing temperature due to the motion of dislocations, which mimics anomalous softening of the elastic shear modulus $mu$. In the same temperature region the motion of dislocations causes dissipation with a prominent peak.
There has been a major controversy over the past seven years about the high-pressure melting curves of transition metals. Static compression (diamond-anvil cell: DAC) experiments up to the Mbar region give very low melting slopes dT_m/dP, but shock-wave (SW) data reveal transitions indicating much larger dT_m/dP values. Ab initio calculations support the correctness of the shock data. In a very recent letter, Belonoshko et al. propose a simple and elegant resolution of this conflict for molybdenum. Using ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), they show that the high-P/high-T phase diagram of Mo must be more complex than was hitherto thought. Their calculations give convincing evidence that there is a transition boundary between the normal bcc structure of Mo and a high-T phase, which they suggest could be fcc. They propose that this transition was misinterpreted as melting in DAC experiments. In confirmation, they note that their boundary also explains a transition seen in the SW data. We regard Belonoshko et al.s Letter as extremely important, but we note that it raises some puzzling questions, and we believe that their proposed phase diagram cannot be completely correct. We have calculated the Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies of the bcc, fcc and hcp phases of Mo, using essentially the same quasiharmonic methods as used by Belonoshko et al.; we find that at high-P and T Mo in the hcp structure is more stable than in bcc or fcc.