Quick Shot

A team of researchers, including LLE Associate Director for Academics, Science, and Technology, Gilbert (Rip) Collins, and High-Energy-Density Physics Experiments Group Leader, Ryan Rygg, has measured carbon at the highest pressures ever achieved in a laboratory. The research team compressed solid carbon to 2,000 GPa using ramp-shaped laser pulses and simultaneously measured the crystal structure. The experiments nearly double the record high pressure at which x-ray diffraction has been recorded on any material. Their work was published in the January 2021 issue of Nature.