Structural Phase Transition of Ytterbium Nitride under High Pressure

Abstract

The structural and elastic properties of ytterbium nitride (YbN) with NaCl structure have been investigated by using an improved interaction potential model (IIPM). The compound YbN found to undergo from their initial NaCl (B1) phase to body centered tetragonal (BCT) phase at high pressure. The phase transition pressures and associated volume collapses obtained from the potential model developed here show a generally better agreement with available experimental data then others available in the literature. The elastic constants are also reported. This shows that the inclusion of three-body interaction and polarizability effect makes the present model suitable for high pressure studies.

Keywords: Rare earth pnictides, three body interaction, phase transition, volume collapse.