Acquisition of a Carbon Dioxide Laser and a Nd-YLF Laser

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9508054 Heinz Under the direction of the PI, the University of Chicago will acquire a neodymium-yttrium lanthanum fluoride (Nd-YLF) and C02 lasers, associated stabilization equipment, new diamond anvil cells and a high pressure gas loading apparatus. This equipment will both modernize and add many necessary improvements to the diamond anvil laboratory at the University for research in high temperature, high pressure mineral physics. The PI's research focuses on the accurate measurement of melting curves for mantle and core minerals so as to constrain the maximum temperature of the lower mantle and the temperature of the inner-outer core boundary, a fundamental problem in the earth sciences. In particular, the acquisition of a stable high power Nd-YLF laser will enable detection of the enthalpy of fusion for Earth materials in the laser-heated diamond anvils. The acquisition of the CO2 laser will enable this laboratory to make melting measurements with bmth types of laser for intra and inter-laboratory comparisons with the goal of resolving these differences. Since the lasers couple with solids in different ways, the types of materials that can be studied is greatly increased by having both types of lasers. Finally, due to the stability of the new lasers, it will be possible to interface with the synchrotron source currently being commissioned at the Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources (CARS) sector of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory. ***