Isothermal equation of state of a lithium fluoride single crystal

Abstract

An isothermal equation of state of a LiF single crystal was determined from length change measurements of the specimen as a function of hydrostatic pressure up to approximately 7 kbars at 28 to 41/sup 0/C. The length change was measured with an accuracy of approximately 500 A by using a Fabry Perot type He--Ne laser interferometer for a 1-m long specimen at temperatures constant to less than 0.002/sup 0/C. Several two- and three-parameter equations of state were used in analyzing the measured pressure-volume data. The computer fit for each equation of state determines not only the value of its parameters but also the standard deviations associated with them and one dependent variable, either pressure or volume. With the parameters determined, the equations of state are extrapolated to approximately 5 megabars in order to see discrepancies. Using the Born model of ionic solids, two equations of state were derived both from a power law potential and from an exponential form for the repulsive energy of alkali metal halides and used to fit the pressure-volume data of a LiF single crystal. They are also extrapolated to approximately 5 megabars. The Birch's two-parameter equation and the Grover, Getting, and Kennedy equation are indistinguishable from the two equations of state derived from the Born model for pressures approximately equal to or less than 800 kbars within +-20 kbars. The above four equations of state also fit closely the Pagannone and Drickamer static compression data, the Christian shock wave data, and the Kormer et al. shock wave data. The isothermal bulk modulus and its first pressure derivative at atmospheric pressure and 28.83/sup 0/C are 664.5 +- 0.5 kbars and 5.40 +- 0.18, respectively, in close agreement with those values ultrasonically measured by R. A. Miller and C. S. Smith. (auth)