Note: Simple and portable setup for loading high purity liquids in diamond anvil cell.

Here we explain a simple and inexpensive procedure to preserve the original purity of the liquid samples during the loading process in a diamond anvil cell. The idea is to keep the sample in frozen form during the loading process while preventing the condensation of the water or other introduction of contaminants. The system can be quickly and easily assembled in a basic laboratory setup. This process can be used for loading some of the common pressure media in a diamond anvil cell.

Boundaries for martensitic transition of (7)Li under pressure.

Physical properties of lithium under extreme pressures continuously reveal unexpected features. These include a sequence of structural transitions to lower symmetry phases, metal-insulator-metal transition, superconductivity with one of the highest elemental transition temperatures, and a maximum followed by a minimum in its melting line. The instability of the bcc structure of lithium is well established by the presence of a temperature-driven martensitic phase transition. The boundaries of this phase, however, have not been previously explored above 3 GPa. All higher pressure phase boundaries are either extrapolations or inferred based on indirect evidence. Here we explore the pressure dependence of the martensitic transition of lithium up to 7 GPa using a combination of neutron and X-ray scattering. We find a rather unexpected deviation from the extrapolated boundaries of the hR3 phase of lithium. Furthermore, there is evidence that, above ∼3 GPa, once in fcc phase, lithium does not undergo a martensitic transition.