Fe0.79Si0.07B0.14 metallic glass gaskets for high-pressure research beyond 1 Mbar

A gasket is an important constituent of a diamond anvil cell (DAC) assembly, responsible for the sample chamber stability at extreme conditions for x-ray diffraction studies. In this work, we studied the performance of gaskets made of metallic glass Fe0.79Si0.07B0.14 in a number of high-pressure x-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments in DACs equipped with conventional and toroidal-shape diamond anvils. The experiments were conducted in either uniaxial or radial geometry with x-ray beams of micron to sub-micron size. We report that the Fe0.79Si0.07B0.14 metallic glass gaskets offered stable sample environment under compression exceeding one megabar in all XRD experiments described here, even in those involving inter- or small-molecule gases (e.g. Ne, H2) used as pressure transmitting media or in those with laser heating in a DAC. These emphasize the material's importance for a great number of delicate experiments conducted under extreme conditions. Our results indicate that the application of Fe0.79Si0.07B0.14 metallic glass gaskets in XRD experiments of both uniaxial and radial geometries substantially improves the signal-to-noise ratio in comparison to that with conventional gaskets made of Re, W, steel or other crystalline metals.