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Diamond Anvil Cell Techniques

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Static Compression of Energetic Materials

Part of the book series: Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena ((SHOCKWAVE))

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It has often been said that scientific advances are made either in a dramatic and revolutionary way, or, as in the case of the diamond anvil cell (DAC), in a slow and evolutionary manner over a period of several years. For more than 2 decades, commencing in 1958, the DAC developed stepwise from a rather crude qualitative instrument to the sophisticated quantitative research tool it is today, capable of routinely producing sustained static pressures in the multi-megabar range and readily adaptable to numerous scientific measurement techniques because of its optical accessibility, miniature size, and portability.

During the last several decades the amount and quality of research with DACs has increased enormously with new instrument modifications, new applications, and experimental results being reported in literature frequently. In fact, the DAC now has become the premier instrument of choice for conducting experiments of all kinds and in all disciplines that utilize static high pressure and temperature variables. Indeed, for static high pressure/temperature studies on energetic materials, the DAC has become a widely used indispensable tool. Never in my thoughts did I ever expect this simple, yet elegant, device to become so widely used and accepted throughout the world for conducting scientific research in many diverse disciplines. Because of its enormous popularity in the scientific community, and also because I have perceived that many scientists who use the instrument today are unaware of its origin, probably because so many different modifications of the instrument have been made and are currently in use, I think it is appropriate to narrate the history behind the invention of the DAC in the introductory chapter of this book.

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Authors
  1. Gasper J. Piermarini
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, 8725 Kingman Road, Fort Belvoir, VA, 22060-6201, USA

    Suhithi M. Peiris

  2. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1070, USA

    Gasper J. Piermarini

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Piermarini, G.J. (2009). Diamond Anvil Cell Techniques. In: Peiris, S.M., Piermarini, G.J. (eds) Static Compression of Energetic Materials. Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68151-9_1

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