Room-temperature Raman scattering has been measured in lead tungstate up to 17 GPa. We report the pressure dependence of all the Raman modes of the tetragonal scheelite phase (PbWO4-I, space group I41/a), which is
stable at ambient conditions. Upon compression the Raman spectrum undergoes
significant changes around 6.2 GPa due to the onset of a partial structural phase
transition to the monoclinic PbWO4-III phase (space group P21/n). Further changes in the spectrum occur at 7.9 GPa, related to a scheelite-to-fergusonite transition. This transition is observed due to the sluggishness and kinetic hindrance of the I→III transition. Consequently, we found the coexistence of the
scheelite, PbWO4-III, and fergusonite phases from 7.9 to 9 GPa, and of the last two phases up to 14.6 GPa. Further to the experiments, we have performed ab initio lattice dynamics calculations which have greatly helped us in assigning the Raman modes of the three phases and discussing their pressure dependence.
