LAUSR

ABSTRACT Current anvil designs and problems associated with various efforts to generate static high pressures beyond the limit of conventional diamond anvil cells (DACs) (∼400 GPa) are reviewed. Pressures of up to 1 TPa have been reported by one research group using the double-stage DAC (ds-DAC) technique, but no other research group has successfully reproduced this high pressure result. Some research groups have used toroidal anvils, achieving pressures of >400 GPa. We have conducted numerous ds-DAC experiments and investigated the problems associated with such experiments. They include problems associated with various pressure scales in the multi-megabar region, difficulties in obtaining reliable X-ray diffraction patterns from micron-sized samples, and physical property measurements of tiny materials that may be harder than diamond. Each of these problems is discussed, following the summary of various experiments.