Pressure effect on the electronic structure of iron in (Mg,Fe)(Si,Al)O_3 perovskite: a combined synchrotron Mössbauer and X-ray emission spectroscopy study up to 100 GPa

We investigated the valence state and spin state of iron in an Al-bearing ferromagnesian silicate perovskite sample with the composition (Mg_(0.88)Fe_(0.09))(Si_(0.94)Al_(0.10))O_3 between 1 bar and 100 GPa and at 300 K, using diamond cells and synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy techniques. At pressures below 12 GPa, our Mössbauer spectra can be sufficiently fitted by a “two-doublet” model, which assumes one ferrous Fe^2+-like site and one ferric Fe3+-like site with distinct hyperfine parameters. The simplest interpretation that is consistent with both the Mössbauer data and previous X-ray emission data on the same sample is that the Fe^2+-like site is high-spin Fe2+, and the Fe3+-like site is high-spin Fe3+. At 12 GPa and higher pressures, a “three-doublet” model is necessary and sufficient to fit the Mössbauer spectra. This model assumes two Fe2+-like sites and one Fe3+-like site distinguished by their hyperfine parameters. Between 12 and 20 GPa, the fraction of the Fe^3+-like site, Fe^3+/∑Fe, changes abruptly from about 50 to 70%, possibly due to a spin crossover in six-coordinate Fe2+. At pressures above 20 GPa, the fractions of all three sites remain unchanged to the highest pressure, indicating a fixed valence state of iron within this pressure range. From 20 to 100 GPa, the isomer shift between the Fe^3+-like and Fe^2+-like sites increases slightly, while the values and widths of the quadruple splitting of all three sites remain essentially constant. In conjunction with the previous X-ray emission data, the Mössbauer data suggest that Fe^2+ alone, or concurrently with Fe^3+, undergoes pressure-induced spin crossover between 20 and 100 GPa