APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 83 » Issue 20

Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4093 - 4096 (1999)

The ε Phase of Solid Oxygen: Evidence of an O4 Molecule Lattice

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Federico A. Gorelli1,3 *, Lorenzo Ulivi2 †, Mario Santoro1,3 ‡, and Roberto Bini3,4 §
1Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Firenze and INFM, Largo E. Fermi 2, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
2Istituto di Elettronica Quantistica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, and INFM Via Panciatichi 56/30, I-50127 Firenze, Italy
3LENS, European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy, Largo E. Fermi 2, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
4Dipartimento di Chimica dell'Università di Firenze, Via G. Capponi 9, I-50121 Firenze, Italy

Featured in Physics News Update Received 2 July 1999

We report a detailed experimental characterization of the infrared absorption properties of the high pressure, red phase of oxygen. Spectra are measured in the far infrared, down to 100 cm-1, in the fundamental vibration and in the overtone regions up to 63 GPa. A new, strong peak is observed at about 300 cm-1. Samples less than 0.5 μm thick were produced to measure the strong vibron mode avoiding saturation. We find that the diatomic oxygen molecule is not a good basis to describe the vibrational spectrum of the ε phase. The spectra can be interpreted in a straightforward way on the basis of an association among the oxygen molecules leading to the formation of O4 units.


©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v83/p4093
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.4093
PACS: 62.50.+p, 63.20.Dj, 78.30.-j

* Electronic address: gorelli@lens.unifi.it
† Electronic address: ulivi@ieq.fi.cnr.it
‡ Electronic address: santoro@lens.unifi.it
§ Electronic address: bini@chim.unifi.it

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