Portable laser-heating system for diamond anvil cells

The diamond anvil cell (DAC) technique coupled with laser heating has become the most successful method for studying materials in the multimegabar pressure range at high temperatures. However, so far all DAC laser-heating systems have been stationary: they are linked either to certain equipment or to a beamline. Here, a portable laser-heating system for DACs has been developed which can be moved between various analytical facilities, including transfer from in-house to a synchrotron or between synchrotron beamlines. Application of the system is demonstrated in an example of nuclear inelastic scattering measurements of ferropericlase (Mg_0.88Fe_0.12)O and h.c.p.-Fe_0.9Ni_0.1 alloy, and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy of (Mg_0.85Fe_0.15)SiO₃ majorite at high pressures and temperatures. Our results indicate that sound velocities of h.c.p.-Fe_0.9Ni_0.1 at pressures up to 50 GPa and high temperatures do not follow a linear relation with density.