High Pressure / High Temperature Diamond Anvil Cell

The main goal of the diamond anvil cell program is to address geochemical and geophysical problems across the entire pressure- temperature range of the Earth and other terrestrial planets.

High pressure research using diamond anvil cells (DACs) provide access to the sample volume for x-rays as low as 15 keV, allowing powder and single crystal diffraction measurements to be made.  These measurements will help to unravel the chemical and physical secrets of the deep Earth including phase transitions of mantle minerals and core alloys and dynamics of core formation.

DAC Experiments

• Multi-Mbar pressure studies of samples with grain sized covering the entire length of crystallinity (single crystal, micro/nano crystalline, amorphous and liquid)
• Equations of state and phase relations
• Accurate structural and electron diensity determinations
• High-pressure elasticity and rheology
• Properties of melts and glasses
• Kinetics of phase transformations
• Chemical reactions at extreme conditions
• Properties of multi-component systems
• Development of high accuracy pressure callibrations at high temperature

On-line Brillouin Spectroscopy

Combining Brillouin spectroscopy with high resolution x-ray diffraction techniques gives the ability to perform simultaneous measurements of velocities and elastic moduli and the volume/density, independent of any pressure standard.  The system in 13 BMD allows the study of materials under in-situ high-pressure/ high temperature conditions.