Compressibility of the BeO₄ tetrahedra in the crystal structure of phenacite

Abstract

The high pressure crystal structure of phenacite Be₂SiO₄ has been studied based on single-crystal diffraction intensities collected at 22 kbar and 32 kbar. The result has revealed that the Be–O bonds show a large mean coefficient of linear compression 3.2×10⁻⁴ kbar⁻¹ ±1.3×10⁻⁴ kbar⁻¹ compared with the empirically predicted value 0.824×10⁻⁴ kbar⁻¹ for Be–O in general; the Si–O bond lengths are almost invariable in the pressure range covered.