The metastable T−P phase diagram and the anomalies of the thermodynamic properties of supercooled water are calculated on the basis of a two-level thermodynamic model. Water is considered as a mixture of two components which differ in atomic configurations and correspond to low-density amorphous (lda) and high-density amorphous (hda) ice. The expression for the Gibbs potential of water is written in the form which is analogous to that of usual regular binary solutions. But this model considers the concentration, c, of the components, as a pressure and temperature-dependent internal parameter. There are only four constants in the expression for the Gibbs potential: the differences in the specific volumes, entropies, and energies of the two components and the mixing energy of the components whose values are ΔV0=−3.8 cm3/mol, ΔS0=4.225 J/mol, ΔE0=1037 J/mol, and U=3824 J/mol, respectively. The lda−hda phase equilibrium line terminates at the critical point, Tcr=230 K and Pcr=0.173 kbar, the second critical point in the phase diagram of water. The anomalous thermal dependence of the specific volume, the heat expansion coefficient, and the specific heat of water calculated for the atmospheric pressure is in a good quantitative agreement with the available experimental data. Thus anomalous properties of supercooled water are well explained by the occurrence of the second critical point close to the atmospheric pressure. The absolute value of parameter c is not crucial for the thermal behavior of properties, instead, the anomalies in water are due to the dependence on pressure and temperature. The parameter c behavior is analyzed in various pressure and temperature ranges around the second critical point. The thermal dependence of parameter c is very weak in the temperature range of 290–350 K at atmospheric pressure. As a consequence, the thermodynamic properties of water behave in this range like those of a normal liquid though water stays a mixture of two components, lda-like and hda-like, in an approximate proportion 2:3.

Scheelite-type compounds with the general formula (A1,A2)(n)[(B1,B2)O(4)](m) (2/3 ≤ n/m ≤ 3/2) are the subject of large interest owing to their stability, relatively simple preparation, and optical properties. The creation of cation vacancies (□) in the scheelite-type framework and the ordering of A cations and vacancies can be a new factor in controlling the scheelite-type structure and properties. For a long time, cation-deficient Nd(3+):M(2/7)Gd(4/7)□(1/7)MoO(4) (M = Li, Na) compounds were considered as potential lasers with diode pumping. They have a defect scheelite-type 3D structure (space group I4(1)/a) with a random distribution of Li(+)(Na(+)), Gd(3+), and vacancies in the crystal. A Na(2/7)Gd(4/7)MoO(4) single crystal with scheelite-type structure has been grown by the Czochralski method. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that Na(2/7)Gd(4/7)MoO(4) has a (3 + 2)D incommensurately modulated structure. The (3 + 2)D incommensurately modulated scheelite-type cation-deficient structure of Na(2/7)Gd(4/7)MoO(4) [super space group I4 (α-β0,βα0)00] has been solved from single-crystal diffraction data. The solution of the (3 + 2)D incommensurately modulated structure revealed the partially disordered distribution of vacancies and Na and Gd cations. High-temperature conductivity measurements performed along the [100] and [001] orientation of the single crystal revealed that the conductivity of Na(2/7)Gd(4/7)MoO(4) at T = 973 K equals σ = 1.13 × 10(-5) Ω(-1) cm(-1).

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The structural states of Cu2O at pressures between ambient and 11 GPa were re-investigated, using angle-dispersive diffraction, an area detector and synchrotron radiation. Thanks to the latter’s naturally high collimation, a hitherto suspected transition from the parent cubic phase to a new tetragonal phase was experimentally confirmed at pressures between 0.7 and 2.2 GPa, depending on the hydrostaticity of the pressure medium used. The other transformation, into a pseudocubic phase, was detected at about 8.5 GPa. In the same pressure range, the application of pressure also resulted in a general and strong broadening of the diffraction peaks. This broadening is attributed to the presence of microscopic strains and a reduction in grain size down to the nanocrystalline scale.

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