Moissanite: a window for high-pressure experiments

We achieved a pressure of 52.1 gigapascals with moissanite anvils, which have optical, thermal, electric, magnetic, and x-ray properties that rival those of diamond. The mode-softening of D(2)O toward the pressure-induced hydrogen bond symmetrization and the Raman shifts of diamond under hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic compressions were studied with moissanite anvils in the spectral regions normally obscured by diamond anvils. Moissanite anvil cells allow maximum sample volumes 1000 times larger than those allowed by diamond anvil cells and may enable the next level of advancement in high-pressure experiments.