Abstract
The question as to whether or not ferroelectric ice, named ice XI, exists in a stable low-temperature phase attracts much interest. This question arose as a condensed-matter issue and became of interest in astronomy (e.g., does ice XI exist on Pluto?) because astronomical observations identified the existence of crystalline ice in our solar system. From neutron diffraction experiments, we found the temperature conditions for the transformation of the largest fraction of ice into ice XI using the lowest level of impurity dopant. The finding of bulk crystal of ordered structure firmly supports that ice XI is stable. This suggests the existence of naturally occurring ice XI at a narrow temperature range (57-66 K) in our solar system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | L57-L60 |
| Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
| Volume | 652 |
| Issue number | 1 II |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 20 2006 |
Funding
This work was supported by the JAEA Presidents Fund Program and by the JAEE-ORNL part of the US-Japan Cooperative Program on Neutron Scattering. We thank Chris Redmon for assistance with the neutron powder diffraction experiments at ORNL. This research was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with ORNL, managed and operated by UT-Battelle, LLC.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Basic Energy Sciences | |
| US Department of Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| US-Japan | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering | |
| Japan Atomic Energy Agency |
Keywords
- Astrochemistry
- Methods: laboratory
- Planets and satellites: general