Inelastic x-ray scattering from high pressure fluids in a diamond anvil cell

Abstract

We present an experimental setup to study terahertz dynamics in fluids under high pressure, employing inelastic x-ray scattering and diamond anvil cell techniques. The use of a carefully designed vacuum chamber and the minimization and control of sources of parasitic scattering allowed circumventing previous limitations due to important empty cell contributions to the scattering signal. The successful implementation of our setup is demonstrated in the case of supercritical fluid argon, for which a full viscoelastic analysis yields the dispersion relation of sound waves, the generalized heat capacity ratio, and longitudinal viscosity. Our results are in excellent agreement with available experimental observables and molecular dynamics simulations.