Lattice dynamics of the lanthanides: Samarium at high pressure

Sm was studied by Raman spectroscopy at pressures up to 20 GPa. The Raman-active phonon modes, both of the Sm-type phase and the dhcp phase, show a frequency decrease as pressure increases. There is evidence that the entire structural sequence hep → Sm-type → dhcp → fcc under pressure for the individual regular lanthanides is associated with softening of certain acoustic and optical-phonon modes as well as elastic anomalies. Comparison is made to corresponding transitions between close-packed lattices in other metals and possible relations to the lanthanide's electronic structure are addressed.