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Brillouin spectroscopy at room temperature and pressures up to 40 GPa documents nearly identical elasticity and refractive index of amorphous CaSiO3 created by two different methods: temperature-quenching the melt at ambient pressure and pressure-amorphizing crystalline wollastonite at room temperature. We find reproducible hysteresis of 0 to 8% on pressure cycling that is small relative to the 30 to 60% changes in shear and longitudinal wave velocities over this pressure range. Together with observed changes in refractive index and previous results from Raman spectroscopy, these measurements reveal a continuous and reversible change in atomic packing induced by pressure. Unlike many other silicate glasses, amorphous CaSiO3 exhibits highly reproducible properties, behaving smoothly and reversibly under pressure cycling and possessing similar structure and elasticity regardless of synthesis paths for the starting material, which suggests that the amorphous solid may mimic the liquid over the pressure range investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FeSi remains crystalline up to at least 2350 (±200) K at 23 GPa and 2770 (±200) K at 47 GPa in a laser-heated diamond-anvil cell, showing that addition of silicon does not cause a large amount of melting point depression; the melting temperature of pure iron ranges from 2300 (±100) K to 2700 (±150) K between 20 and 50 GPa. The transition between ε (B20) and B2 (CsCl-structured) crystalline phases occurs at 30 (±2) GPa at all temperatures from 1200 to 2400 K. The resulting 5% density increase may cause an increase in the miscibility of silicon in iron at P > 30 GPa, with potential implications for the cores of small rocky planets such as Mars and Mercury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]