High-pressure devices

Abstract

Nowadays, high pressure is a routine variable for powder and single-crystal diffraction experiments. By combining high pressure with variable-temperature attachments, one can reproduce in the laboratory the conditions inside planets and use them to study geological, biological and physical phenomena or for making new materials. In many X-ray, neutron and spectroscopic laboratories throughout the world, the diamond-anvil cell and other high-pressure devices are common. Their development has progressed dynamically in recent decades and this chapter outlines their history, the main types of devices and details of their operation, their advantages and limitations, their installation at large synchrotron and neutron facilities, and the latest achievements in static and dynamic high-pressure generation. Modern equipment can combine powder and single-crystal diffractometry with spectroscopic, dielectric, magnetic and other measurements on samples of various kinds compressed, cooled or heated to unprecedented magnitudes. The results obtained provide a broad perspective for understanding both fundamental physics and complex processes in living tissue.