In order to see a larger image, please click on the picture. In a diamond anvil cell, a sample is pressurized by squeezing between two gem quality diamonds. The two diamonds are contained within a piston-cylinder device.
Many different designs are available depending on the needs of a particular experiments.
In our laboratory, we have Mao-Bell type, symmetric type, and four post diamond cells as shown in the picture above. Brillouin spectroscopy system Brillouin scattering is the inelastic interaction between light and thermal acoustic excitations in dielectric materials. The physical reason for light scattering is the presence of inhomegeneities of the medium due to fluctuations in the dielectric constant, which are caused by thermally excited phonons. Brillouin and Raman scattering differ in that the first is due to acoustic vibration modes while the latter is due to optical vibration modes. We use Brillouin techniques to study the elastic constants of crystals as a function of pressure.