High Pressure Crystallography

This unique book is devoted to the theme of crystallographic studies at high pressure. It places emphasis on the phenomena characteristic to the compressed state of matter, as well as experimental and theoretical techniques, used to study these phenomena.

Despite the tremendous advances in the techniques and equipment for carrying out high-pressure crystallography, the application or exploration of the high-pressure variable in detailed structural studies remains rare. The chapters in this book provide a set of lecture notes and supplementary material for a course on high pressure crystallography. The material comprises state-of-the-art reviews of high-pressure experiments using X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques at synchrotron and neutron facilities and in the laboratory, as well as complementary experimental high-pressure techniques and theoretical methods for investigating matter at elevated pressures. The materials studies range from elemental solids and liquids to inorganic compounds, minerals, organic compounds, clathrates and pharmaceutical compounds, to large biological molecules such as proteins and viruses. The book provides a reference for workers in high-pressure science wishing to learn more about crystallography and for established crystallographers potentially interested in high pressure as a variable, as well as an introductory guide to new researchers in the field.

This unique book is devoted to the theme of crystallographic studies at high pressure. It places emphasis on the phenomena characteristic to the compressed state of matter, as well as experimental and theoretical techniques, used to study these phenomena.

Volume 41 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry introduces to the field of high-temperature and high-pressure crystal chemistry, both as a guide to the dramatically improved techniques and as a summary of the voluminous crystal chemical literature on minerals at high temperature and pressure. The three parts of the book introduces crystal chemical considerations of special relevance to non-ambient crystallographic studies, reviews the temperature- and pressure-variation of structures in major mineral groups and presents experimental techniques for high-temperature and high-pressure studies of single crystals and polycrystalline samples as well as special considerations relating to diffractometry on samples at non-ambient conditions.

This volume summarises recent developments and possible future directions for small molecule X-ray crystallography. It reviews specific areas of crystallography which are rapidly developing and places them in a historical context. The interdisciplinary nature of the technique is emphasised throughout. It introduces and describes the chemical crystallographic and synchrotron facilities which have been at the cutting edge of the subject in recent decades. The introduction of new computer-based algorithms has proved to be very influential and stimulated and accelerated the growth of new areas of science. The challenges which will arise from the acquisition of ever larger databases are considered and the potential impact of artificial intelligence techniques stressed. Recent advances in the refinement and analysis of X-ray crystal structures are highlighted. In addition the recent developments in time resolved single crystal X-ray crystallography are discussed. Recent years have demonstrated how this technique has provided important mechanistic information on solid-state reactions and complements information from traditional spectroscopic measurements. The volume highlights how the prospect of being able to routinely “watch” chemical processes as they occur provides an exciting possibility for the future. Recent advances in X-ray sources and detectors that have also contributed to the possibility of dynamic single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods are presented. The coupling of crystallography and quantum chemical calculations provides detailed information about electron distributions in crystals and has resulted in a more detailed understanding of chemical bonding. The volume will be of interest to chemists and crystallographers with an interest in the synthesis, characterisation and physical and catalytic properties of solid-state materials. Postgraduate students entering the field will benefit from a historical introduction to the subject and a description of those techniques which are currently used. Since X-ray crystallography is used so widely in modern chemistry it will serve to alert senior chemists to those developments which will become routine in coming decades. It will also be of interest to the broad community of computational chemists who study chemical systems.

As laboratories replace heavy hydraulic presses and bulky high-pressure chambers with miniature diamond anvils, traditional heaters with laser heating, and continue to improve methods of shock compression, there has been considerable new data obtained from the high-pressure, high-temperature modification of pure elements. The dense metallic modification of elements shows the potential for achieving superconductivity akin to theoretical predictions. Phase Transformations of Elements Under High Pressure contains the latest theoretical and experimental information on nearly 100 elements, including first-and second-phase transitions, melting lines, crystal structures of stable and metastable phases, stability of polymorphic modifications, and other useful properties and data. It emphasizes features such as changes in the liquid state, amorphization, and metallization, and provides temperature-pressure diagrams for every element. The book also describes the transitions of polymeric forms of fullerene, crystal modifications of elements stable under high pressures, and provides data that confirms their superconducting and magnetic properties. This handbook will be a lasting reference for scientists in a broad range of disciplines, including solid-state physics, chemistry, crystallography, mineralogy, and materials science.

High-pressure science has undergone a revolution in the last 15 years. The development of intense new x-ray and neutron sources, improved detectors, new instrumentation, greatly increased computation power, and advanced computational algorithms have enabled researchers to determine the behavior of matter at static pressures in excess of 400 GPa. Shock-wave techniques have allowed access to the experimental pressure-temperature range beyond 1 TPa and 10,000 K. High-Pressure Physics introduces the current state of the art in this field. Based on lectures presented by leading researchers at the 63rd Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics, the book summarizes the latest experimental and theoretical techniques. Highlighting applications in a range of physics disciplines—from novel materials synthesis to planetary interiors—this book cuts across many areas and supplies a solid grounding in high-pressure physics. Chapters cover a wide array of topics and techniques, including: High-pressure devices The design of pressure cells Electrical transport experiments The fabrication process for customizing diamond anvils Equations of state (EOS) for solids in a range of pressures and temperatures Crystallography, optical spectroscopy, and inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) techniques Magnetism in solids The internal structure of Earth and other planets Measurement and control of temperature in high-pressure experiments Solid state chemistry and materials research at high pressure Liquids and glasses The study of hydrogen at high density A resource for graduate students and young researchers, this accessible reference provides an overview of key research areas and applications in high-pressure physics.