Nitrogen diamond anvil cell

Recently, a high-pressure investigation of CaSi2 in a diamond anvil cell has been published. Nitrogen was used as a pressure-transmitting material and the diamond anvil cell was calibrated by the ruby luminescence method. 

Because Raman spectroscopy requires one only to guide a laser beam to the sample and extract a scattered beam, the technique is easily adaptable to measurements as a function of temperature and pressure. High temperatures can be achieved by using a small furnace built into the sample compartment. Low temperatures, easily to 78 K (liquid nitrogen) and with some diflSculty to 4.2 K (liquid helium), can be achieved with various commercially available cryostats. Chambers suitable for Raman spectroscopy to pressures of a few hundred MPa can be constructed using sapphire windows for the laser and scattered beams. However, Raman spectroscopy is the characterizadon tool of choice in diamond-anvil high-pressure cells, which produce pressures well in excess of 100 GPa. ... 

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