PRESSURE-INDUCED CRYSTALLINE-AMORPHOUS TRANSITION IN NAVO3 AND ITS RECRYSTALLIZATION

Pressure-induced amorphization has been the subject of intense study f or the past few years because of its importance in materials science a nd solid state physics. We reported a crystalline-amorphous phase tran sition at c. 60 kbar in NaVO3 [Shen et al., Phys. Rev. B 49, 1433 (199 4)], which is the lowest pressure found for such transitions in ionic crystals. Here we report on the details of the transitional region and the re-linking of the VO4 chains upon heating.