LaMnO(3) was studied by synchrotron x-ray diffraction, optical spectroscopies, and transport measurements under pressures up to 40 GPa. The cooperative Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion is continuously reduced with increasing pressure. There is strong indication that the JT effect and the concomitant orbital order are completely suppressed above 18 GPa. The system, however, retains its insulating state to approximately 32 GPa, where it undergoes a bandwidth-driven insulator-metal transition. Delocalization of electron states, which suppresses the JT effect but is insufficient to make the system metallic, appears to be a key feature of LaMnO(3) at 20-30 GPa.

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The high-pressure room-temperature behaviour of scheelite CaWO4 (I41/a,Z = 4) is studied using high-resolution synchrotron angle-dispersive x-ray powder diffraction in diamond anvil cells loaded with helium or a mixture of methanol and ethanol as the pressure-transmitting media. At about 10 GPa, there occurs a phase transition to the fergusonite type (I 2/a,Z = 4) without any discontinuity in the pressure dependence of the unit cell volumes. These observations are discussed in relation to the high-pressure–high-temperature systematics of the AMX4 and AX2 type compounds.

The crystal structure of the high-pressure phase rubidium-IV was investigated using synchrotron x-ray diffraction. Full profile refinements of angle-dispersive powder diffraction data resulted in a solution with the space group I4͞mcm. The structure is made up of columns of face-sharing square antiprisms formed by one subset of Rb atoms (16 per unit cell). Quasi-one-dimensional channels in between these columns are occupied by a second subset of Rb atoms. These results demonstrate that a quite complex crystal structure is adopted by a heavy alkali metal during the progression of the pressuredriven electronic s ! d transition. The structure of Rb-IV exhibits a close resemblance to the metal sublattice of the W 5 Si 3 -type structure.

Studies of liquids with tetrahedral coordination, particularly during compression or quenching, have indicated the existence of distinct phases in the liquid state, distinguishable by density and local structure. In systems that exhibit critical phenomena in the supercooled state, anomalous behaviour of the compressibility is also anticipated above the critical point, as revealed by simulations of water. Liquid GeSe(2) is a potentially attractive system for studying both types of phenomena, given its two-dimensional tetrahedral structure and anomalous physical properties (including a density minimum near its melting point). Here we report in situ X-ray diffraction measurements of solid and liquid GeSe(2) at high temperature and high pressure, revealing that the structure of the liquid is sensitive to pressure and that anomalous compressibility is expected. During compression of liquid GeSe(2), the connectivity of the liquid changes from two- to three-dimensional, leading to a breakdown of the intermediate-range order. The gradual change in structure above the melting line may develop to a first-order liquid-liquid transition in the supercooled regime.

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