Acoustics of metals under extreme conditions by laser-ultrasonics in diamond anvils cell

Abstract

Major progress on ultrafast acoustics instrumentation and diamond anvils design during the last 2 yr now allows detailed elastic and visco-elastic studies under extreme conditions and on a wide variety of systems. I will here mainly review the state of the art of the recent development of a method combining the time-resolved picosecond optical technique and a diamond anvil cell to measure sound velocity Decremps et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 3550 (2008)]; Decremps et al., [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 73902 (2009)]. Contrary to other groups which currently scope with these problems mostly using large facilities, we propose here entirely new and novel technique to measure the sound velocity of solid and liquid under high pressure and high temperatures. I will illustrate these possibilities by a number of recent studies on crystalline, polycrystalline, and liquid metals. Prospects will be discussed.