Study of high-pressure phase transition of CeTe and EuTe through three-body interaction potential approach

The high pressure phase transition of lanthanum monotellurides having NaCl-type (B-1) structure have been studied using three-body interaction potential (TBIP) approach. The potential model consists of long-range Coulombic, three-body interaction forces, short-range overlap repulsive forces operative up to next nearest neighbor ions, van der Walls interactions and zero point energy effects. To understand the effect of pressure on elastic constant and their combinations, they have also been studied. The Born stability criterion was also found to be fulfiled in the present study. Our calculated results of phase transitions, volume collapses and elastic behavior of these monotellurides are found to be close to the experimental results. This shows that the inclusion of three-body interaction effects makes the present model suitable for high-pressure studies. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.