Diamond anvils with a spherical support designed for X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments in DAC

Abstract

Here, we present new diamond anvils with a spherical support designed for applications in diamond anvil cell (DAC) technique. The main feature of the anvils is the diamond crown of a spherical shape. The assembly of the spherical diamond fixed within a spherical support of a seat made of tungsten carbide or hard metals provides enhanced stability, simple alignment, and large optical and X-ray aperture that makes it very useful for broad applications in DAC technique, particularly for single crystal X-ray and powder neutron diffraction. The anvils were tested in various experiments conducted in a wide pressure–temperature range and showed a very good performance.

Keywords:

• diamond anvil cell technique
• high pressure generation
• spherical diamonds
• X-ray diffraction
• neutron diffraction

Acknowledgements

We thank Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for financial support through the SPP 1236 Priority Programme and D. Hüffer of Scimed GmbH for providing us with spherical diamonds manufactured according to our design. ND thanks DFG for funding through the Heisenberg Programme.