Crystalline Post-Quartz Phase in Silica at High Pressure

alpha-quartz, which has been reported to undergo pressure-induced amorphization, was found to transform to a monoclinic, crystalline phase when compressed to 45 GPa at room temperature in a close to hydrostatic, helium pressure medium. The x-ray powder diffraction data obtained could be indexed based on a monoclinic cell, and the intensities are in agreement with a P2(1)/c model structure built up of 3x2 zigzag chains of SiO6 octahedra. This new polymorph of silica, which is metastable under ambient conditions, has been isolated for the first time and is one of several possible competing dense forms containing octahedrally coordinated silicon.