High-pressure x-ray-diffraction techniques have been used to determine the equation of state of solid xenon up to 110 kbar at 85 K. The 0-K isotherme is derived from the experimental data within the Debye approximation. The results indicate that solid Xe is much more compressible than one would expect on the basis of known pair potentials for free Xe atoms and known many-atom interactions of the Van der Waals type. The difference in compression energy between the experimental and the predicted pressure-volume relation amounts to about 30% at 100 kbar. A comparison of the experimental data with bulk properties calculated from energy-band theory by Trickey et al. yields good agreement. An effective pair potential for the solid state is derived from the experimental pressure-volume relation.

• Received 11 July 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.18.5826