Simulational study of liquid germanium under pressure

Abstract Tight-binding molecular dynamics simulations are carried out for liquid germanium with seven different densities. The obtained pair distribution functions are in good agreement with recent experiments. By studying the positions of the first peaks in the pair distribution functions as well as the bond-angle distribution functions, we clarify the change in the local structure of liquid germanium upon compression. We conclude that when the pressure is increased from the low-pressure region to the high-pressure region, the local structure of liquid germanium changes from a ‘disordered’ β-Sn structure to a structure that is closer to the β-Sn structure.