High-pressure crystallography

Since the late 1950's, high-pressure structural studies have become increasingly frequent, following the inception of opposed-anvil cells, development of efficient diffractometric equipment (brighter radiation sources both in laboratories and in synchrotron facilities, highly efficient area detectors) and procedures (for crystal mounting, centring, pressure calibration, collecting and correcting data). Consequently, during the last decades, high-pressure crystallography has evolved into a powerful technique which can be routinely applied in laboratories and dedicated synchrotron and neutron facilities. The variation of pressure adds a new thermodynamic dimension to crystal-structure analyses, and extends the understanding of the solid state and materials in general. New areas of thermodynamic exploration of phase diagrams, polymorphism, transformations between different phases and cohesion forces, structure-property relations, and a deeper understanding of matter at the atomic scale in general are accessible with the high-pressure techniques in hand. A brief history, guidelines and requirements for performing high-pressure structural studies are outlined.