Project Details:

Spectroscopy under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure

To obtain international agreement on methods and standards and to prepare documents to guide workers in the field of spectroscopy under extreme conditions. Initially vibrational and electronic spectroscopy will be considered, but the project may be extended to NMR, Mossbauer, and other spectroscopies if the early work reveals interest in these areas. The main issues to be pursued come under the three general headings Instrumentation, Pressure Calibration, and Temperature Calibration. Instrumentation includes the consideration of cell design, the use of membranes with diamond anvil cells, the properties of optical windows under extreme conditions, the design of spectrometers and microscopes, the use of optical fibers for safe access to difficult experimental situations, and the simultaneous generation of high pressure and low temperature in an optical cell. The calibration issues include methods and standards for the calibration of hydrostatic and very non-hydrostatic pressures. Emphasis will be on calibration through the spectroscopic properties, with the intention to make recommendations in the final report of standard substances, inorganic, organic and biological, whose spectroscopic properties can be used for calibration and for establishing the performance of apparatus.

Much progress has been made on this project. A 6-page summary was presented to the Commission in Berlin, accompanied by a detailed report on the scope of the project.

The final report is submitted for publication in PAC.