Experimental system for X-ray magnetic diffraction under extreme conditions

An experimental system for X-ray magnetic diffraction (XMD) under extreme conditions was constructed on the beamline BL39XU at SPring-8. This system aims at studying magnetic properties of ferromagnets through the measurements of magnetic form factors under the conditions of low temperature (5 K), high magnetic field (6 T) and high pressure (10 GPa). This system consists of a superconducting magnet (SCM), a diamond anvil cell (DAC), a two-axis manipulator for the DAC, a five-axis goniometer for the SCM, and an X-ray polarizer with a phase plate. Details of this system are presented. Experimental results on uranium telluride are shown as a performance test with this instrumentation.     

Neutron diffraction study of liquid iodine

A theory of molecular diffusion in liquids that takes into account the shape of intermolecular potential wells with a cosine potential produces fine spectral detail in the far infrared. The effect of a static external electric field is to shift this panoply of peaks to higher frequency, increase the number of peaks, and shift their individual relative frequencies and intensities.     

Neutron diffraction studies of liquid carbon suboxide

The structure factor S _m(Q) for liquid carbon suboxide has been determined for a Q-value range of 0·4 to 60 Å^-1 by neutron diffraction measurements using a steady-state (reactor) and a pulsed (linac) neutron source. The bond lengths of the molecule have been determined from the data and give good agreement with the results of electron diffraction measurements on the vapour phase after application of a molecular recoil correction term. The quasi-linear nature of the molecule is confirmed but the shape of the form factor indicates that large amplitude bending motion probably occurs in the liquid phase.

Oscillations in the intermolecular pair correlation function are observed to have a regular periodicity extending to 12 Å but details of orientational effects cannot be established from a single diffraction measurement.     

PRESS-MAG-O: A new facility to probe materials and phenomena under extreme conditions

In the recent years, several experiments performed under high magnetic fields (HMFs), at high pressure (HP) and/or at low temperature (LT) have led to spectacular discoveries in condensed matter. In many new systems, although challenging, it is strategic to perform a magneto-optical analysis, to investigate the phonon behavior in the far infrared (IR) domain. By combining HMF and HP in a wide temperature (T) range to perform concurrently IR magneto-optics and ac-magneto-dynamic experiments, it will be possible to achieve unique information on systems and/or new phenomena, almost impossible to obtain with standard spectroscopic methods. Here we present PRESS-MAG-O, a new facility under construction that will perform HP experiments under HMF in a wide T range. The system is expected to be operational by the end of 2008 and will be tested at SINBAD, the IR synchrotron radiation beamline operational since 2001 at DAΦNE (Double Annular Φ-factory for Nice Experiments), the storage ring of the INFN Frascati National Laboratory (LNF). While for IR experiments an interferometer will be used, for the magneto-dynamic experiments a SQUID magnetometer in the 10 Hz-2 KHz frequency range will be utilized. HP will be applied to samples by a Cu-Be diamond anvil cell (DAC), so that the device will be able to collect FTIR spectra and high harmonic ac susceptibility data in a dc magnetic field up to 8 T and to about 20 GPa in a wide temperature range (4.2-200 K).     

Neutron diffraction study of Fe83B17 metallic glass

The structure factorS(Q) was measured up to high momentum transfer,_max720 nm^–1 for Fe₈₃B₁₇ metallic glass sample. A ribbon sample was prepared by rapid quenching of the melt. In the alloy boron enriched with¹¹B isotope was used. The scattering neutron spectra were measured by the time-of-flight method at the IBR-30 facility of JINR in Dubna. The scattering angles of 30°, 60° and 150° were chosen to cover the scattering vector,Q, from 10nm^–1 up to 720nm^–1. The scattered spectra of vanadium were measured for the detector efficiency determination and those of molybdenum for the calibration. The reduced pair distribution functionG(r) was obtained using the Fourier transform ofS(Q). The atomic distances and the partial coordination numbers were calculated. It was found that the fluctuation of the Fe-B distance is larger than that of the Fe-Fe atomic pair. The chemical short-range parameter is equal to 44% of the maximum possible value.Dedicated to the memory of M. Gmitro.The sample of amorphous metallic material was kindly prepared by Dr. P. Duhaj. We would like to thank Dr. P. vec for microscoping our sample and for stimulating discussions.     

Neutron diffraction investigation of MnAs under high pressure

Powdered MnAs has been investigated by neutron diffraction in a pressure cryostat, at hydrostatic pressures up to 13 kbar and temperatures down to 4.2 K. It has been found that in the orthorhombic MnP type structure, which under pressure is retained at low temperature, a spiral magnetic structure with propagation vector τ_a = 0.125X2πX a¹ at 12.6 kbar is formed.     

Neutron diffraction at a moving grating as a nonstationary quantum phenomenon

The observation of the discrete energy spectrum in a new experiment on the diffraction of ultracold neutrons at a moving phase grating is reported. The results are in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions and can be treated as additional evidence of the validity of the plane-wave representation of the initial neutron state.     

Raman scattering under extreme conditions

Raman scattering is a versatile and powerful technique and has been widely used in modern scientific research and vast industrial applications. It is one of the fundamental experimental techniques in condensed matter physics, since it can sensitively probe the basic elementary excitations in solids like electron, phonon, magnon, etc. The application of extreme conditions(low temperature, high magnetic field, high pressure, etc.) to Raman scattering, will push its capability up to an unprecedented level, because this enables us to look into new quantum phases driven by extreme conditions, trace the evolution of the excitations and their coupling, and hence uncover the underlying physics. This review contains two topics.In the first part, we will introduce the Raman facility under extreme conditions, belonging to the optical spectroscopy station of Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facilities(SECUF), with emphasis on the system design and the capability the facility can provide. Then in the second part we will focus on the applications of Raman scattering under extreme conditions to a variety of condensed matter systems such as superconductors, correlated electron systems, charge density waves(CDW) materials, etc. Finally, as a rapidly developing technique, time-resolved Raman scattering will be highlighted here.     

Space plasma under extreme conditions

Attributes of extreme conditions in space and the new properties which plasma acquires in this case are discussed. The discussion is focussed on the features of interaction between plasma and radiation in strong magnetic fields of degenerate stars—white dwarfs or neutron stars. The specific role of cyclotron scattering, radiation pressure at cyclotron frequencies, and vacuum birefringence in the formation of plasma envelopes and the observed spectra of these objects is pointed out. The contents of this paper provided the basis for the report at the scientific session of the General Physics and Astronomy Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences devoted to the eightieth anniversary of Vitaly L. Ginzburg. Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod; Max Plank Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 40, Nos. 1–2, pp. 17–36, January–February, 1997.     

Phase transition and chemical decomposition of liquid carbon dioxide and nitrogen mixture under extreme conditions

Thermodynamic and chemical properties of liquid carbon dioxide and nitrogen(CO_(2~–)N_2) mixture under the conditions of extremely high densities and temperatures are studied by using quantum molecular dynamic(QMD) simulations based on density functional theory including dispersion corrections(DFT-D). We present equilibrium properties of liquid mixture for 112 separate density and temperature points, by selecting densities ranging from ρ = 1.80 g/cm~3 to 3.40 g/cm~3 and temperatures from T = 500 K to 8000 K. In the range of our study, the liquid CO_(2~–)N_2 mixture undergoes a continuous transition from molecular to atomic fluid state and liquid polymerization inferred from pair correlation functions(PCFs)and the distribution of various molecular components. The insulator–metal transition is demonstrated by means of the electronic density of states(DOS).     

Status of PRESS-MAG-O: The experimental apparatus to probe materials and phenomena under extreme conditions at Frascati

In this contribution we up-to-date the status of the PRESS-MAG-O device, a new instrument under commissioning at the INFN designed to perform magnetic and spectroscopic experiments on samples under extreme conditions. The system has been designed to work at SINBAD, the IR synchrotron radiation beamline operational at DAΦNE. The instrument, that is the result of a significant R&D, will allow performing concurrent high harmonic ac magnetic susceptibility measurements and magneto-optic experiments on a sample under high pressure, with a variable DC magnetic field in a wide temperature range. The vacuum vessel has been designed with four crossing windows to allow optical measurements in the transmission geometry on the sample loaded inside a Diamond Anvil Cell. A new superconducting miniaturized micro-SQUID gradiometer has been also developed to detect the low magnetic signal of the sample and a customized optical system has also been designed to perform IR synchrotron radiation experiments.     

Neutron diffraction and computer simulation study of liquid CS2 and CSe2

The structure factor of liquid CS₂ has been measured at ambient temperature by the 7C2 diffractometer at the Laboratoire Leon Brillouin?, Saclay, France. The result has been modelled by the reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method. The only reported neutron diffraction measurement on liquid CSe₂ has also been investigated in detail. In both cases initial configurations for the RMC runs have been obtained by molecular dynamics simulation using a simple soft sphere potential. It has been found that the main features of experimental results have been reproduced even by this choice suggesting that the structure of these systems is almost entirely described by the excluded volume. Examination of model size dependence of results has also been carried out revealing the importance of using large simulation boxes.     

Dynamic ionization of water under extreme conditions

Raman spectroscopy in a laser heated diamond anvil cell and first principles molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study water in the temperature range 300 to 1500 K and at pressures to 56 GPa. We find a substantial decrease in the intensity of the O-H stretch mode in the liquid phase with pressure, and a change in slope of the melting line at 47 GPa and 1000 K. Consistent with these observations, theoretical calculations show that water beyond 50 GPa is "dynamically ionized" in that it consists of very short-lived (<10 fs) H2O, H3O+, and OH- species, and also that the mobility of the oxygen ions decreases abruptly with pressure, while hydrogen ions remain very mobile. We suggest that this regime corresponds to a superionic state.     

Radiation-induced decomposition of explosives under extreme conditions

We present high-pressure and high temperature studies of the synchrotron radiation-induced decomposition of powder secondary high explosives pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) using white beam synchrotron radiation at the 16 BM-B and 16 BM-D sectors of the HP-CAT beamline at the Advanced Photon Source. The radiation-induced decomposition rate TATB showed dramatic slowing with pressure up to 26.6 GPa (the highest pressure studied), implying a positive activation volume of the activated complex. The decomposition rate of PETN varied little with pressure up to 15.7 GPa (the highest pressure studied). Diffraction line intensities were measured as a function of time using energy-dispersive methods. By measuring the decomposition rate as a function of pressure and temperature, kinetic and other constants associated with the decomposition reactions were extracted.