Pressure-induced drastic structural change in liquid CdTe

Abstract

We investigate the structure of liquid CdTe at pressures up to 6 GPa by synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The structure factor, $S(Q)$, and the pair distribution function, $g(r)$, change drastically within a small pressure interval of about 1 GPa (between 1.8 and 3 GPa). The $S(Q),g(r)$, and other structural parameters, such as the average coordination number, CN, and the ratios of peak positions in $S(Q)$ or $g(r)$, reveal that the change originates from the pressure-induced modification in the local structure from the zinc-blende-like form into the rocksaltlike one. The liquid CdTe shows a high-pressure behavior similar to that in the crystalline counterpart in terms of the sharpness of the structural change and the high-pressure sequence in the local structure.