Probing the liquid-liquid transition in tellurium under pressure

Liquid tellurium (Te) exhibits several thermodynamic anomalies which closely resemble those of water. These anomalies point to the possible existence of a liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) in Te, which is similar to the one purported in water. Compared with water, however, the ability of Te to reach deep supercooling without crystallization makes it possible to explore its phase diagram close to the LLCP. Therefore, we propose to study the structure of supercooled liquid Te under pressure at ID15B, aiming at revealing details of the phase diagram including the vicinity of the LLCP.