Chain breakage in liquid sulfur at high pressures and high temperatures

High-energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction was utilized to study the local order of liquid sulfur at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. A temperature driven structure change in liquid sulfur was observed, signified by an order of magnitude reduction in lengths of sulfur chains. The large change in chain length implies that this is a liquid-liquid phase transition in sulfur. The chain breakage may strongly influence the physical properties, such as the semiconductor-metal transition and a drastic decrease in viscosity across the transition.