33HIGHLIGHTS 2020

along the transition is also intriguing: moving away from the critical point, it starts by increasing and then goes through a maximum at ~ 750 K before falling. This is very different behaviour from that of the liquid gas transition, where the density jump increases monotonically as it moves away from the critical point.

This work is therefore the first to show experimentally the existence of a second critical point associated with liquid liquid transitions.

Moreover, the P-T conditions of the critical point being relatively easy to access, it opens up very interesting perspectives for the characterisation of the critical phenomena (such as the opalescence observed in the liquid gas transition) associated with the liquid liquid transitions. A better understanding of liquid liquid transitions could also lead to new applications based on the control of the physical properties of the liquid.

Liquid liquid transition and critical point in sulphur, L. Henry (a), M. Mezouar (a), G. Garbarino (a), D. Sifré (a), G. Weck (b) and F. Datchi (c), Nature 584, 382-386

(2020); https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586- 020-2593-1. (a) ESRF (b) CEA, DAM, DIF, Arpajon (France)

(c) Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7590, MNHN, Paris (France)

[1] P.H. Poole et al., Nature 360, 324 (1992). [2] Y. Katayama, et al., Nature 403, 170-173 (2000).

PRINCIPAL PUBLICATION AND AUTHORS

REFERENCES