Multi-anvil High Pressure Facility at National Synchrotron Light Source: Then, Now, and Future

Multi-anvil high pressure facility (Beamline X17B2) at National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) was the first of its kind established in the United States with the support from NSF through the Center for High Pressure Research (CHiPR, 1990 - 2002). During this period, the facility provided a fertile ground for steep growth of research on earth materials at simultaneously high pressures and temperatures. Main areas of study included the thermoelastic and structural properties of minerals, phase equilibria, rheology, acoustic velocities, kinetics of phase transformations, and physical properties of melts. The rheological and acoustic measurements at high pressures in conjunction with synchrotron were first developed at this facility, and both techniques are being adapted today by other laboratories around the world. Last five years has witnessed great increases in efficiency and productivity of this facility, a beneficiary of the construction of a permanent hutch and time-sharing mechanism made possible by NSLS, and the establishment of the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES). While other above- mentioned areas of research continued to grow, the rheological studies of minerals experienced fast expansion through the use of two new high pressure deformation apparatus, the Deformation DIA (D-DIA) and the Rotational Drickamer apparatus (RDA, led by S. Karato from Yale Univ.) Experiments are currently being performed on various mantle minerals to derive their rheological properties. Performance of the facility will receive another boost through the addition of a monochromatic side station jointly supported by DoD, COMPRES and NSLS, and construction of the station is well underway. With continued operation of COMPRES in next five years, we will see several significant additions to the large- volume facility at NSLS: a new system for precise measurements of stress at high pressure; a 2000-ton press; D- TCup apparatus for deformation experiments at pressures up to 20 GPa; a portable RDA that can be placed in the current press; and the fully operational monochromatic side station. The planned new synchrotron (NSLS II) with its supreme energy and spatial resolutions allows further enhancement of capabilities of multi-anvil high pressure facility, and opens door for new possibilities beyond 2012.