Potassium under pressure: a pseudobinary ionic compound

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Sep 11;103(11):115501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.115501. Epub 2009 Sep 8.

Abstract

Experimentally, we have found that among the "complicated" phases of potassium at intermediate pressures is one which has the same space group as the double hexagonal-close-packed structure, although its atomic coordination is completely different. Calculations on this P6(3)/mmc (hP4) structure as a function of pressure show three isostructural transitions and three distinctive types of chemical bonding: free electron, ionic, and metallic. Interestingly, relationships between localized metallic structures and ionic compounds are found.