EXAFS Study of PressureInduced Phase Transition in SrWO4

Pressure-induced scheelite-to-wolframite structural phase transition in SrWO4 was studied using two complementary techniques—x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). In situ XRD and W L3-edge EXAFS measurements were performed using the synchrotron radiation. The experiments were done at room temperature in the pressure range from 0 to 30 GPa using the diamond anvil cell. The XRD results unambiguously show that SrWO4 transforms from the tetragonal scheelite phase to the monoclinic wolframite-type phase at about 11.7 GPa. Locally this transition appears as a change of the tungsten ions coordination from regular tetrahedral to distorted octahedral. The analysis of the EXAFS d…