High Pressure Equipment

• Diamond anvil cells
• Large volume press
• Cell-loading equipment
• Spark eroder
• Laser spectrometers
• Laser annealing equipment

Diamond anvil cells

ID27 has, together with ID9, about 12 diamond anvil cells. Most of them are of the cylinder-piston type (Le Toullec, Chervin and Diacell) with a gas driven membrane for pressure generation. These cells generally have 0.3 - 0.4 mm culet tips and are thus suitable for pressures up to 40 - 50 GPa. There is also a Ruoff/Akahama cell (bevelled diamonds, 0.1 mm culet tips) that can be used in the megabar range.
 

Some different types of diamond anvil cells.

Large volume press

The Large volume press (Edinburgh-Paris type)

Cell-loading equipment

The high-pressure lab at ID27 has three microscopes and some limited equipment for loading samples in the cells. Equipment for cryogenic loading of N₂ and Ar has been developed for the membrane cells (LeToullec and Chervin), but can probably be used with other types as well.
 

The high pressure lab at ID27.

Cryogenic loading of N₂ and Ar.

Spark eroder

For drilling the gasket holes, an semi-automatic Betsa spark eroder is available. Currently W-threads with diameters of 0.1 - 0.2 mm are used in the high pressure lab, but the spark eroder can easily be equipped with thinner threads or conical tips for smaller holes. The gaskets available at the lab are made of stainless steel, 0.2 mm thick, cut for the LeToullec and Chervin cells.
 

The Betsa Spark eroder

Laser spectrometers

ID27 has two computer controlled laser spectrometer systems for determination of the pressure by the ruby fluorescence method. The system situated in the high pressure lab (CC3) consist of a xxxx laser and a xxxx specrometer. The second laser spectrometer is located in the experimental hutch, and has a xxxx laser and xxxx spectrometer.
 

The laser spectrometer system in CC3.

Laser annealing equipment

For high temperature annealing of samples in the DAC a laser system has been built. It consists of YAG and CO₂ lasers coupled to a Nikon microscope.

The laser annealing setup (only YAG laser shown).