Superconductivity in diamond

We report the discovery of superconductivity in boron-doped diamond synthesized at high pressure (8-9 GPa) and temperature (2,500-2,800 K). Electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, and field-dependent resistance measurements show that boron-doped diamond is a bulk, type-II superconductor below the superconducting transition temperature Tc=4 K; superconductivity survives in a magnetic field up to Hc2(0)=3.5 T. The discovery of superconductivity in diamond-structured carbon suggests that Si and Ge, which also form in the diamond structure, may similarly exhibit superconductivity under the appropriate conditions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Synchrotron and FEL Studies of Matter at High Pressures

Samples compressed to very high pressures are typically very small or exist for only a very short period of time. Researchers seeking to make x-ray studies of matter under such conditions have therefore always sought access to the brightest possible x-ray sources – synchrotrons – and, more recently, x-ray FELs. In this chapter, after a brief introduction and a short history of high-pressure science, I describe the techniques used to compress matter to pressures well above 1 million atmospheres (1 megabar or 100 GPa) both statically and dynamically and then review how experiments are conducted on such samples at both synchrotrons and XFELs. I conclude with a discussion about the opportunities afforded by the start-up of diffraction-limited synchrotrons and the new European XFEL