Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tucker, M. G. Articles by Dove, M. T. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

A detailed structural characterization of quartz on heating through the –ß phase transition

M. G. Tucker¹, D. A. Keen^2, and M. T. Dove^1,*

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
² ISIS Faculty, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK

^* E-mail: martin{at}esc.cam.ac.uk

Total neutron scattering measurements, analysed using a modification of the reverse Monte Carlo modelling method to account for long-range crystallographic order, have been used to describe the temperature-dependent behaviour of the structure of quartz. Two key observations are reported. First, the symmetry change associated with the displacive –ß phase transition is observed in both the long-range and short-range structural correlations. Secondly, some aspects of the structure, such as the Si–O bond length and the thermally-induced dynamic disorder, the latter of which sets in significantly below the transition, are relatively insensitive to the phase transition. These results are used to show that the -domain model of the ß-phase disorder is inappropriate and that the classical soft-mode picture of the phase transition is too simplistic. Instead, it is argued that the structural behaviour is best described in terms of its ability to respond to low-frequency, high-amplitude vibrational modes. This view is supported by additional single-crystal diffuse neutron scattering measurements.

KEYWORDS: structural characterization, quartz, –ß transition, total neutron scattering, reverse Monte Carlo modelling

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. P. Onac and H. S. Effenberger Re-examination of berlinite (AlPO4) from the Cioclovina Cave, Romania American Mineralogist, November 1, 2007; 92(11-12): 1998 - 2001. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. J. Palin and R. J. Harrison A Monte Carlo investigation of the thermodynamics of cation ordering in 2-3 spinels American Mineralogist, August 1, 2007; 92(8-9): 1334 - 1345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. L. Ross and C. Hoffmann Single-crystal Neutron Diffraction: Present and Future Applications Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, January 1, 2006; 63(1): 59 - 80. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. T. DOVE An introduction to the use of neutron scattering methods in mineral sciences European Journal of Mineralogy, April 1, 2002; 14(2): 203 - 224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]