A high-temperature environmental chamber for nuclear-resonant Bragg scattering studies

A compact environmental chamber with a furnace operating in the range from room temperature to about 900 K has been built for a high-temperature nuclear-resonant Bragg scattering study. The compact size (75 mm diameter and 70 mm depth) allows an external magnetic field to be applied from outside permanent Nd-Fe-B alloy magnets; a magnetic field up to 1000 G has been obtained. The chamber can be mounted on a precise theta-2theta goniometer so that in situ observations of X-ray diffraction from a single crystal can be carried out. The temperature is measured by two thermocouples placed at the top and back of the sample and controlled by a PID controller. The temperature fluctuation of the chamber is less than +/-1 K.