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Neutron powder diffraction techniques of small-volume samples at high pressure using compact opposed-anvil cells were developed at J-PARC pulsed neutron source. For this purpose we apply a few types of super-hard materials as opposed anvils with culet diameters between 3 to 5 mm. Generated pressures with these anvils were up to 9 GPa for 2 to 4 mm3 and up to 14 GPa for 0.7 mm3 sample volumes, which not only depends on the anvil geometry and material but even more depends on the metallic gasket geometry and material. A representative anvil geometry with 4 mm in culet diameter, along with TiZr "null alloy" metallic gasket containing varying sample volumes, were then applied to time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction experiments, where methane hydrate of 4 mm3 volume and lead of 0.7 mm3 volume were separately measured and their signal-to-background ratios were evaluated. A neutron-focusing optics was used to concentrate the neutron beam into these small-volume samples to increase the intensity of diffraction. Although spurious diffraction peaks from the anvils were prominent, more than seven diffraction peaks are clearly observed from both of the samples. In spite of the smaller sample capacity than previous standard high-pressure apparatus for neutron, it is concluded that the opposed-anvil cells will become alternative apparatuses for neutron scattering at strong pulsed neutron sources where sufficient neutron intensity was granted.

Hydrogen at high pressure in the fluid state is of great interest for target design of inertial confinement fusion and understanding the interior structure of gas giant planets. In this work, we successfully obtained the Hugoniot data for liquid hydrogen up to 55 GPa under laser-driven shock loading using impedance matching to a quartz standard. The shocked temperature was determined simultaneously by the brightness temperature. The compression and temperature along the principal Hugoniot are in good agreement with theoretical models. High reflectivity of hydrogen was observed at 40 GPa, which suggests the fluid becomes conducting.

In order to extend the pressure regime of intrinsically low-sensitivity methods of measurement, such as neutron scattering and NMR, sample volume to be compressed in compact opposed-anvil cells is desired to be significantly increased. We hereby conducted a series of experiments using two types of compact cells equipped with enforced loading mechanisms. Super-hard nano-polycrystalline diamond (NPD) anvils were carefully prepared for large-volume compression in these cells. These anvils are harder, larger and stronger than single crystal diamond anvils, so that they could play an ideal role to accept the larger forces. Supported and unsupported anvil geometries were separately tested to evaluate this expectation. In spite of insufficient support to the anvils, pressures to 14 GPa were generated for the sample volume of > 0.1 mm3, without damaging the NPD anvils. These results demonstrate a large future potential of compact cells equipped with NPD anvils and enforced loading mechanism.