Strategies for reducing preferred orientation and strain in powder samples for high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction in diamond-anvil cells.
Among the many problems associated with high-pressure X-ray diffraction from polycrystalline samples in the diamond-anvil cell are strain and preferred orientation. A method is presented for efficiently reducing preferred orientation of powder samples compressed in diamond-anvil cells to pressures in excess of 20 GPa. This method may be successfully applied to samples of yield strength higher than alkalihalides. In addition, the problem of strain is discussed using ice-VII as an example and as an illustration of the importance of laser heating as a method of minimizing strain.
Tschauner
Oliver
O
High Pressure Science and Engineering Center, Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. olivert@physics.unlv.edu
McClure
Jason
J
Nicol
Malcolm
M