Pressure-induced structural phase transition in ReO3

We have investigated the pressure-induced structural phase transition in ReO3 by neutron diffraction on a single crystal. We collected neutron diffraction intensities from the ambient and high pressure phases at P=7 kbar and refined the crystal structures. We have determined the stability of the high pressure phase as a function temperature down to T=2 K and have constructed the (P–T) phase diagram. The critical pressure is Pc=5.2 kbar at T=300 K and decreases almost linearly with decreasing temperature to become Pc=2.5 kbar at T=50 K. The phase transition is driven by the softening of the M3 phonon mode. The high pressure phase is formed by the rigid rotation of almost undistorted ReO6 octahedra and the Re–O–Re angle deviates from 180°. We do not see any evidence for the existence of the tetragonal (P4/mbm) intermediate pressure phase reported earlier.