Compact multianvil device for in situ studies at high pressures and temperatures

Abstract

We describe a recently developed device for in situ studies at pressures up to 25 GPa and temperatures up to 2300 K. The system consists of a 450 ton V7 Paris-Edinburgh press combined with a Stony Brook ‘T-cup’ multianvil stage. Such a compact large-volume set-up has a total mass of 100 kg only and can be readily used on most synchrotron radiation facilities. The optimization of the set-up by off-line tests is detailed, and we present some X-ray diffraction results which demonstrate the potential of the technique.

Keywords:

• High pressure
• High temperature
• Multianvil system
• X-ray diffraction

Acknowledgements

The work reported in this paper was supported by the French ‘Réseau Hautes Pressions’, the ‘Mission Ressources et Compétences Technologiques’ of the CNRS, and the University Pierre & Marie Curie, as well as MG63 (Vergongheon, France). D. M.-G. would like to thank the CNRS and the Spanish Government for financial support through grant MAT2004-05867-C03-01. We wish to thank J. Parise and D. Weidner for constant encouragement and discussions during the present study and for carefully reading the manuscript. We are also indebted to M. Mezouar, W. Crichton, and Th. Strässle for their help in the X-ray diffraction measurements at ESRF.