X-ray absorption spectroscopy under high pressures in diamond anvil cells

Abstract

Although potentially extremely important for understanding the high-pressure microscopic behaviour of materials, over the years the area of high-pressure EXAFS in particular using diamond anvil cells has proved to be technically difficult. This has significantly hampered its development. The interference of X-ray dimaction from the diamonds in the diamond anvil cell with the absorption signal has proved to be a challenging problem to tackle, restricting the use of high-pressure EXAFS to energies below about 11 key Below 11 keV however the technique is also limited due to absorption of incident X-rays by the diamonds making it virtually impossible to conduct X-ray absorption experiments below about 9keV In this paper we describe in detail the methodology for scanriirig high-pressure EXAFS in diamond anvil cells and examine the origins of the associated problems and ways of dealing with them. We also demonstrate that it is possible to extend the useful range of studied absorption edges from 7keV up to at least 30keV This brings about new opportunities for high pressure EXAFS using diamond anvil cells.