X-ray diffraction and equation of state of solid neon to 110 GPa

Solid neon was compressed under static conditions at 300 K to pressures in the 100 GPa (megabar) range using diamond-anvil cell techniques. The crystal structure and P-V equation of state were determined by energy-dispersive x-ray diffraction with microcollimated synchrotron radiation. Pressures were determined from ruby fluorescence spectra and from x-ray diffraction of tungsten powder contained within the sample. Solid neon remains an insulator with the fcc structure to the maximum pressure of 110 GPa at 300 K, where the compression V/$V_0$ is 0.28. The 300-K P-V isotherm measured at high pressure is in excellent agreement with the results of electronic structure calculations but is incorrectly described by pure pair potentials recently developed for neon. These results indicate that there is a significant softening of the material by many-body interactions at high pressures. Finally, the measurements of ruby fluorescence and tungsten x-ray diffraction in the neon medium obtained in this study provide an extension of the quasihydrostatic ruby pressure scale above 100 GPa.