Laser Heated Diamond Anvil Cell at the Advanced Light Source

The laser heating system for the diamond anvil cell at endstation 2 of beamline 12.2.2 of the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, CA has been constructed and is available for high-pressure high-temperature experiments. The endstation couples a high-brilliance synchrotron x-ray source with an industrial strength laser to heat and probe samples at high pressure in the diamond anvil cell. The system incorporates an 80 watt Nd:YLF (cw) laser operated in TEM01 mode. Double-sided heating is achieved by splitting the laser beam into 2 paths that are directed through the opposing diamond anvils. X-ray transparent mirrors steer the laser beams coaxial with the x-ray beam from the superbend magnet (energy range 6-35 KeV) and direct the emitted light from the heated sample into two separate spectrometers for temperature measurement by spectroradiometry. Objective lenses focus the laser beam to a size of 30 micron diameter (FWHM) in the sample region. An x-ray spot size of 10 micron diameter (FWHM) has been achieved with the installation of a pair of focusing Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors. A unique aperture configuration has produced an x-ray beam profile that has very low intensity in the tails. The main thrust of the program is aimed at producing in-situ high-pressure high-temperature x-ray diffraction data, but other modes of operation, such as x-ray imaging have been accomplished. Technical details of the experimental setup will be presented along with initial results.