Pressure-induced order-disorder phase transition in superconducting CaC6

By means of synchrotron X-ray diffraction, we studied the effect of high pressure, P, up to 13 GPa on the room temperature crystal structure of superconducting CaC6. In this P range, no change of the pristine space group symmetry, R ¯, is found. However, at 9 GPa, i.e. close to the critical value at which a large Tc reduction was reported recently, we observed a compressibility jump concomitant to a large broadening of Bragg peaks. The reversibility of both effects upon depressurization and symmetry arguments give evidence of an order-disorder phase transition of second order, presumably associated with the Ca sublattice, which provides a full account for the above Tc reduction.