%0 Journal Article
%T Compressibility of the MgB2 Superconductor
%A K. Prassides
%A Y. Iwasa
%A T. Ito
%A D. H. Chi
%A K. Uehara
%A E. Nishibori
%A M. Takata
%A S. Sakata
%A Y. Ohishi
%A O. Shimomura
%A T. Muranaka
%A J. Akimitsu
%J Physics
%D 2001
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevB.64.012509
%X Considerable excitement has been caused recently by the discovery that the binary boride system with stoichiometry MgB2 is superconducting at the remarkably high temperature of 39 K (1). This potentially opens the way to even higher Tc values in a new family of superconductors with unexpectedly simple composition and structure. The simplicity in the electronic and crystal structures could allow the understanding of the physics of high-Tc superconductivity without the presence of the multitude of complicated features, associated with the cuprates. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used to measure the isothermal compressibility of MgB2, revealing a stiff tightly-packed incompressible solid with only moderate bonding anisotropy between intra- and inter-layer directions. These results, combined with the pressure evolution of the superconducting transition temperature, Tc establish its relation to the B and Mg bonding distances over a broad range of values.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0102507v1