1. Observation of a Plastic Crystal in Water-Ammonia Mixtures under High Pressure and Temperature
- Author
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Zhang, H., Datchi, F., Andriambariarijaona, L., Rescigno, M., Bove, L. E., Klotz, S., and Ninet, S.
- Subjects
x-ray ,planets ,equation-of-state ,hydrogen ,dynamics ,raman-spectrum ,phases ,neutron-scattering ,ice-vii - Abstract
Solid mixtures of ammonia and water, the so-called ammonia hydrates, are thought to be major components of solar and extra-solar icy planets. We present here a thorough characterization of the recently reported high pressure (P)-temperature (T) phase VII of ammonia monohydrate (AMH) using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments in the ranges 4-10 GPa, 450-600 K. Our results show that AMH-VII exhibits common structural features with the disordered ionico-molecular alloy (DIMA) phase, stable above 7.5 GPa at 300 K: both present a substitutional disorder of water and ammonia over the sites of a body-centered cubic lattice and are partially ionic. The two phases however markedly differ in their hydrogen dynamics, and QENS measurements show that AMH-VII is characterized by free molecular rotations around the lattice positions which are quenched in the DIMA phase. AMH-VII is thus a peculiar crystalline solid in that it combines three types of disorder: substitutional, compositional, and rotational.