Elasticity of quasi-bcc ammonia hemihydrate at high pressures

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ae330a

Abstract Ammonia hydrates are important components in planetary interiors, among which ammonia hemihydrate (AHH) exhibits remarkable stability under high pressure. In this study, we report for the first time the elastic properties of the recently discovered quasibcc ammonia hemihydrate (AHH-$q$bcc) at high pressures, using externally heated diamond anvil cells combined with Raman spectroscopy and Brillouin scattering. We synthesized single crystals of AHH-$q$bcc in the diamond anvil cell (DAC). Subsequently, we measured its full elastic tensor up to 17.6 GPa at room temperature via Brillouin scattering. The results show that the elastic constants increase linearly with increasing pressure. Based on the obtained elastic constants, we calculated the bulk modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and velocity anisotropy. The results reveal significant anisotropy in wave velocities and Poisson's ratio on the (110) crystallographic plane of AHH-$q$bcc. Compared to ice VII, AHH-$q$bcc has a lower bulk modulus and shear modulus, yet exhibits a higher compressional wave velocity and a similar shear wave velocity. Our findings provide important constraints for understanding the internal structure and seismic velocity profiles of icy planets.

Keywords: high pressure ammonia hemihydrate Brillouin scattering Raman spectroscopy

Received: 24 November 2025
Revised: 24 December 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 04 January 2026

PACS:	61.50.Ks	(Crystallographic aspects of phase transformations; pressure effects)
	07.35.+k	(High-pressure apparatus; shock tubes; diamond anvil cells)
	52.38.Bv	(Rayleigh scattering; stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering)
	91.60.Lj	(Acoustic properties)

Fund: This work was supported by the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants Nos. 42472065, 12274168, and 42102030), the Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Development Project (Grant No. SKL202502017JC), the Technology Development Plan Project of Changchun, China (Grant No. 2024GZZ06), the Project of ”Medical+X” Interdisciplinary Innovation Team of Norman Bethune Health Science Center of Jilin University (Grant No. 2025JBGS03).

Corresponding Authors: Xinyang Li
E-mail: lixinyang@jlu.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Mengqiong Pu(蒲梦琼), Jiacheng Zhang(张家诚), Xinyang Li(李新阳), Xiaomei Yuan(苑晓美), Xue Zhang(张雪), Shuo Gao(高硕), Chenlu Wang(王晨璐), Liang Li(李亮), Fangfei Li(李芳菲), and Qiang Zhou(周强) Elasticity of quasi-bcc ammonia hemihydrate at high pressures 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 036101

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Elasticity of quasi-bcc ammonia hemihydrate at high pressures

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