Diamond Anvil Cell

The Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) is a high-pressure device allowing to compress micron-sized samples up to extreme conditions, mimicking planetary interiors.

Image of the two opposed diamonds compressing a gasket. https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/mineralogy/mineral_physics/diamond_anvil.html

This device is composed of two opposed diamonds compressing a sample placed in a compression chamber. This sample chamber consists is a hole made in a metallic gasket (in our experiments, this gasket is made of Rhenium). Pressure can be increased using a membrane deformed by gas, as in the following picture, or using screws.

Cross section of a Le Toullec type Diamond Anvil Cell device

In order to reproduce experimentally the pressure as well as the temperature of planetary interiors, the sample placed between the diamonds could be heated using a Fiber laser focused on 20µm of diameter. This allows to locally reach temperature over 5 000 K. This setup is the so called Laser-Heated Diamond Anvil Cell (LH-DAC).

Video of a metallic sample heated using a YAG laser (courtesy of M. Mezouar, ESRF)

Updated on 20 March 2023