As
promising optical materials, the structures of scheelite- and zircon-type
ZrGeO4 have been investigated by Raman spectroscopy at
pressures up to 51.6 GPa using diamond anvil cells. For scheelite-type
ZrGeO4, two reversible phase transitions at 16.2 and 41.2
GPa were identified from the Raman spectral profiles and pressure
dependence of the Raman shift upon compression. The first transition
can be interpreted as the change of the tetragonal scheelite structure
to the monoclinic fergusonite structure. By comparison with a previously
reported isomorphic crystal, we infer that the second high pressure
phase likely has a monoclinic structure. The zircon-type ZrGeO4 initially transforms to a scheelite structure at ∼10.1
GPa, while such phase transformation is completed at around 24.6
GPa, and remains stable up to 37.6 GPa. Moreover, the zircon-to-scheelite
phase transition is irreversible, and the high pressure scheelite
structure cannot be recovered upon decompression. These phase transitions
for different starting ZrGeO4 materials were unambiguously
identified for the first time, and their contrasting structural stabilities
as well as the transition mechanisms can be understood from the intrinsic
characteristics of the crystal lattices. These results contribute
to the understanding of the pressure behavior of very sparsely reported
germinate compounds in the ABO4 family.