Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / 1 / c / Solution

The isothermal volume compressibility is $\kappa =-(1/V)(\partial V/\partial p{)}_T$. For isotropic cubic compression $V\propto a^3$ and $d_{hkl}=a/\sqrt{h^2+k^2+l^2}$, soDifferentiate Bragg's law $2d_{hkl}\sin \theta =\lambda$ at fixed incident wavelength and fixed reflection:This derivative uses radians. It remains locally valid with a pressure-dependent compressibility, provided the cubic isotropic phase is retained. For a constant stipulated $\kappa$, integration givesThus $a_0(1-\kappa p/3)$ is only the first-order approximation, not the exact consequence of a constant logarithmic compressibility. The finite-pressure calculation also assumes that the reflection still exists, the crystal remains in the same structure and $\sin {\theta }_0{e}^{\kappa p/3}\le 1$. These limitations matter for a large extrapolation.