High-pressure mineral physics

High-pressure mineral physics studies how minerals and other materials behave under pressures and temperatures comparable to those inside planets, using experiments and theory to explain planetary interiors.

Diamond anvil cell: A device that compresses a tiny sample between opposing diamond tips to generate extreme pressures. It creates static pressures comparable to those deep inside planetary interiors.
Mineral physics: The study of the physical properties and behavior of minerals. High-pressure mineral physics extends this field to planetary pressures and temperatures.
Earth's lower mantle: The region of Earth's mantle extending from about 660 kilometers depth to the core–mantle boundary. Its dominant minerals are studied at pressures and temperatures in laboratory cells.
Multi-anvil press: A high-pressure apparatus that compresses a sample using several anvils arranged around it. It provides larger, more uniformly heated samples than diamond cells, at lower maximum pressures.
Laser-heated diamond anvil cell: A diamond anvil cell that heats its compressed sample with focused laser beams. It reaches the high pressures and temperatures needed to study deep-mantle minerals.
Phase transition: A change between distinct physical states or structures of matter. Pressure-induced transitions create boundaries between mineral layers.
Bridgmanite: A magnesium iron silicate with a perovskite structure, abundant in Earth's lower mantle. Its properties help determine the density and seismic behavior of the lower mantle.
Dynamic compression: The rapid compression of matter by shocks or other short-lived loading methods. It accesses extreme states briefly, unlike the sustained conditions of static presses.
Shock compression: A method that subjects materials to brief, intense compression using a shock wave. It probes planetary conditions that static compression may not reach.
Crystal structure: The orderly, repeating arrangement of atoms in a crystalline solid. Structural changes explain why minerals adopt different forms at depth.

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