Scientists crushed diamond beyond Neptune-like pressures—and solved a 20-year mystery
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have resolved a 20-year mystery regarding how diamond behaves under extreme pressure. By shock-compressing diamond samples, they confirmed that the material becomes denser when it melts, aligning experimental data with quantum mechanical simulations.
Why it matters
These findings improve our understanding of planetary interiors and have practical applications for enhancing energy gain in inertial confinement fusion experiments.
Diamond is famous for its beauty, but its value extends far beyond jewelry. This exceptionally hard form of carbon is used to make the tiny capsules that hold fuel in inertial confinement fusion experiments. Scientists also think diamonds may form and fall like rain far beneath the surfaces of ice giant planets such as Neptune and Uranus.
In both environments, diamond is subjected to immense pressure. Yet researchers have struggled for years to determine exactly how the material responds under such extreme conditions because laboratory measurements and computer simulations have produced conflicting results.
A new study published in Nature Physics may finally resolve that problem. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) measured how diamond melts at pressures three times greater than those found at Earth's core.
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