Objective
For the past few decades, diamond anvil cell (DAC) has been the most commonly used static high-pressure device to
reproduce simultaneous high pressure (P) and temperature (T) conditions of deep planetary interiors. Laser-heated DAC
achieved P-T conditions corresponding to the centre of the Earth. However, the laser heating system causes large
temperature uncertainties (±10%), which is critical when one tries to understand planetary interiors based on phase relations
of the candidate materials. The major objective of this proposal is therefore, to develop a new heating system for the DAC
which enables us to heat the sample stably and homogeneously. The new design will be based on so-called internally-heated DAC (IHDAC). In an existing IHDAC, a thin metallic heater which is the sample at the same time, provides
homogeneous high temperature. One of the limitations of the existing system is that it is applicable only to the metallic
sample. Therefore, (1) we aim to develop a micro-heater configuration which can heat any type of materials, e.g. silicate,
oxide, and H2O. We plan to achieve the P-T condition of P = 200 GPa and T = 4000 K. Then (2) we will conduct high-pressure melting experiments on H2O ice. The melting temperature of H2O ice under pressure places important constraints
on the structure of Ice Giants such as Uranus and Neptune. Previously reported melting temperatures of H2O show large
discrepancies, one of the major reasons for which is that most of those studies were based on the laser heating with large
temperature uncertainties. Our new IHDAC will offer incontrovertible melting data from homogeneous and stable heating,
and therefore it has a great potential to solve the long-standing controversy of the existing melting temperatures. Our new
IHDAC will be a conventional technique for the researches on the planetary interior for the next decade.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-CAR - CAR – Career Restart panelCoordinator
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom