Cubic perovskite polymorph of strontium metasilicate at high pressures

Abstract

By using a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) with laser heating technology, a cubic perovskite polymorph of SrSiO₃ has been synthesized at - 38 GPa and 1500-2000 K for the first time. The P-V data of this new phase give ambient temperate elastic constants of V₀ = 49.18(5) ų, K0 = 211(3) GPa, respectively, when they are fitted against the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state with a fixed K0′ at 4. On decompression, the SrSiO₃ cubic perovskite phase becomes unstable at - 6.2 GPa and disappears completely at - 4.7 GPa. The transformed product can be considered as an amorphous phase with a minor amount of small sized crystals in the amorphous matrix. First principle calculations predicted structural properties of both the cubic and the six-layer-repeated hexagonal perovskite polymorphs of SrSiO₃ in good agreement with experimental results. The experimental and theoretical results indicate that the larger Sr²⁺ cation can substitute the Ca²⁺ cation and enter into the lattice of the cubic perovskite phase of CaSiO₃ at lower mantle conditions with only a small lattice strain. These results indicate that Sr can be hosted in cubic perovskite CaSiO₃ found as inclusions in diamonds originating from the lower mantle