Effect of Laser Annealing of Common Solid Pressure Media on Pressure Gradients in a Diamond Anvil Cell

Advances in experimental techniques allow for the studying of geophysics and planetary science related materials under high pressure and high temperature conditions. With the intrinsic limits of the multianvil apparatus, compression in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) has become the preferred method for creating the extreme conditions of planetary interiors. High pressures up to 1 Mbar can be routinely obtained in laboratories with the use of DACs. Additionally, as in situ laser heating is becoming progressively more affordable for DACs, it is becoming more common to find laser heating setups in many large scale facilities. After the sample material, the pressure medium is the second most important ingredient for a successful high pressure DAC experiment. Not every pressure medium is equally suitable for every experiment. For example, solid pressure media are more persistent than gaseous pressure media if high temperature heating is required. The melting point of the former is much higher, and melting of pressure media may induce undesirable sample shift in the pressure chamber. However, the most important characteristic of a pressure medium is its ability to maintain hydrostaticity in the DAC. The media, particularly solid pressure media, become less effective with increasing pressure. One of the most popular ways of alleviating pressure gradients is through laser annealing of the sample. We explore the effectiveness of this technique in relation to common pressure media, namely, alkali metal halides NaCl, CsCl, KCl, LiF, and oxide MgO. The samples were laser annealed at temperatures above 2000 K. Pressure gradients were determined through the analysis of diamond Raman and ruby fluorescence peaks before and after annealing the sample with a near-infrared laser. We find that the effect of annealing varies for different materials. For some (NaCl and KCl), it reduces pressure gradients considerably, but for the others (MgO), the effect of annealing is less profound.