Can stress-induced changes in phonon frequencies of ZrSiO4 make it a potential IR spectroscopy-based pressure sensor?

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of ZrSiO4 as a pressure sensor by analyzing its IR spectral response to various mechanical stresses, offering an alternative to Raman-based sensing methods.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ZrSiO4 exhibits pressure-dependent IR spectra and sensitivity to shear stresses, proposing its use as a novel IR spectroscopy-based pressure sensor.

Findings

ZrSiO4 shows pressure-dependent IR spectral shifts.

IR peaks are sensitive to shear and non-hydrostatic stresses.

Potential for ZrSiO4 to serve as a multi-stress sensor.

Abstract

Functional materials that can serve as high-pressure transducers are limited, making such sensor material sought after. It has been reported that hydrostatic pressures highly influence Raman shifts of ZrSiO4. Therefore, zirconium silicate has been suggested as a Raman spectroscopic pressure sensor. However, mass applications of a Raman-based sensor technology poses a wide range of challenges. We demonstrate that ZrSiO4 also exhibits pressure-dependent infrared (IR) spectra. Furthermore, the IR peaks of ZrSiO4 are sensitive to shear stresses and non-hydrostatic pressures, making this material a unique sensor for determining a variety of mechanical stresses through IR spectroscopy.