The diamond anvil is an essential tool of modern high-pressure research. Pressures in excess of 50 GPa can be routinely achieved using diamond anvils in well-designed equipment, and pressures in excess of 400 GPa have been repoted.

Successful operation of a Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) makes very high demands on the quality of the anvils used. Polishing finish, crystallographic perfection and orientation all contribute to the success or failure of an experiment. To obtain the ultimate in pressure the

crystallographic orientation of the diamond lattice is crucial: the centreline of the culet and table must be aligned as closely as possible to the <100> diamond crystal axis. Traditionally Element Six takes a lot of care to ensure alignment when manufacturing diamond anvils.

Dimensions of all our anvils are thoroughly measured during and after polishing. In addition we always inspect for inclusions and other crytallographic imperfections. For users who need the ultimate in optical performance we will select anvils by infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy or birefringence microscopy.

    
  Culet with bevel.                         Anvil selected for low              X ray diffraction pattern used
                                                  birefringence.                         for orientation of diamonds.

Standard Anvil Specifications.