Phase diagram of Nitrogen at high pressures and temperatures

Nitrogen is a typical molecular solid with relatively weak van der Waals intermolecular interactions but strong intramolecular interaction arising from the second highest binding energy of all diatomic molecules. The phase diagram of solid nitrogen is, however, complicated at high pressures, as inter-molecular interaction becomes comparable to the intra-molecular interaction. In this paper, we present an updated phase diagram of the nitrogen in the pressure-temperature region of 100 GPa and 1000 K, based on in-situ Raman and synchrotron x-ray diffraction studies using externally heated membrane diamond anvil cells. While providing an extension of the phase diagram, our results indicate a ``steeper'' slope of the $\delta $/$\varepsilon $ phase boundary than previously determined$^{1}$. We also studied the stability of the $\varepsilon $ phase at high pressures and temperatures. Our new experimental results improve the understanding of the Nitrogen phase diagram. 1. Gregoryanz et al, Phys. Rev. B 66, 224108 (2002)