Application of an imaging plate to the large-volume press MAX80 at the Photon Factory

An imaging plate was applied to the large-volume press MAX80 for quantitative in-situ X-ray diffraction. A combination of the two-dimensional detector with the uniform pressure and temperature environments of MAX80 and the wide energy range of synchrotron radiation resulted in high-quality diffraction data. A modified cell assembly with a disc-type heater was used to minimize extrinsic diffraction peaks from the surrounding materials. To demonstrate the high-quality data obtained from the imaging-plate system, the crystal structure of the high-pressure and high-temperature polymorph of the highly absorbing element bismuth (Bi IV) was determined.