Knowing the elastic properties of geo-materials is crucial to determine the mineralogical composition of the Earth's interior. The Brillouin scattering lab at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ enables us to determine the velocities of sound waves in minerals, glasses and fluids to pressures of the deep Earth. We use Brillouin scattering - the inelastic scattering of laser light by thermal atomic vibrations (phonons) in the samples under investigation. We measure the frequency shift of the …

Within the research group CLEAR we endeavor to understand large scale geological processes that operate deep inside planets. Our approach is to recreate high pressure-temperature conditions in the laboratory and examine various physical properties of minerals and rocks (in situ) using state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques. Specifically, we use statically- and dynamically-heated diamond anvil cells together with a pulsed time-resolved broadband optical probe and a precisely-synchronized …

In our lab we use a FTIR-spectrometer Vertex 80v manufactured by Bruker. It is equipped with various light sources, beam splitters and detectors to operate from 25.000 cm⁻¹ to 80 cm⁻¹. The maximum resolution is 0.25 cm⁻¹. An attached IR-microscope (Bruker Hyperion 2000) provides the possibility to perform unpolarized and polarized measurements on single crystals in the energy range of 25.000 cm⁻¹ to 420 cm⁻¹ with a spatial resolution of 20 µm.
Additional equipment: Heating/cooling stage …

The GHz Ultrasonic Interferometry is used to determine the sound wave velocities of minerals at high pressure in a diamond anvil cell. Because GHz Interferometry does not use any optical component, this method is applicable especially for opaque minerals such like magnetite, franklinite or magnesiowüstite.

The hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell (HDAC) can be applied to study fluids, solids and particularly aqueous samples in situ at high pressures and temperatures. Although such cells are usually used at P-T conditions of less than 3 GPa and 850 °C, experiments with aqueous fluids to 23 GPa and 1025 °C have been reported in the literature.
Because diamonds are transparent over a large range of the electromagnetic spectrum, samples in the HDAC can in principle be studied using any "photon-in – …

The hydrothermal laboratory is equipped with horizontal and vertical cold-seal pressure vessels for the synthesis of crystals or glasses or to study interactions between minerals/rocks, melts, and fluids at hydrostatic conditions. The hydrothermal lab comprises three lines: 200 MPa line, 500 MPa line and rapid quench line.

In principle, an internally heated pressure vessel (IHPV) consists of a thick-walled pressure vessel sealed by closure plugs at the ends. In addition, there is a pressure inlet/outlet as well as several electrical leads into the vessel for power supply to and temperature control of the internal furnace. The equipment is particularly designed for experimental studies at medium to high temperatures (currently up to 1250 °C) and pressures up to 10 kbar. This P-T range is inaccessible by …

The static 1000 t laboratory press of Max Voggenreiter GmbH can be operated either with a Walker module as a multi anvil press or via a second hydraulic cylinder with a piston cylinder module (diameter 12.7 mm).

To investigate the pressure/temperature regime of the Earth´s crust and shallow parts of the upper mantle, at the GFZ three piston cylinder presses are installed and run. Two of the three presses are non-endloaded piston cylinder apparatus ("Johannes-type"), with which pressures up to 2.1 GPa and temperatures up to 1400 °C can be reached. Salt/graphite- or natural fluorite/graphite-assemblages (latter for temperatures larger 800 °C) are of 2.2 cm diameter. Pressures were calibrated according …

The laboratory is equipped with two confocal high-resolution Raman spectrometer systems to study fluid and solid samples (from single point analyses and line scans to two- and three-dimensional Raman imaging) at ambient pressure and temperature and over a wide range of P-T conditions.
Available sample environments are three Linkam heating/cooling stages and two hydrothermal diamond-anvil cells.