Structural behaviour of YGa under high pressure

Abstract

High pressure X-ray diffraction studies on rare-earth gallide YGa was carried up to a pressure of ∼ 33 GPa using rotating anode x-ray source in an angle dispersive mode. YGa exhibits CrB (B33) type orthorhombic structure (space group Cmcm) at ambient pressure. It undergoes a reversible structural phase transition from orthorhombic to tetragonal structure at ∼ 8.8 GPa. Both the phases coexist up to the highest pressure studied. The zero pressure bulk modulus and its derivative for parent phase have been estimated to be Bo = 60 ± 3 GPa, Bo' = 4.6 ± 1.5.