RESEARCH THEMES
This Research Center aims to establish the following "multiple extreme conditions on the single digits".
1. Thermodynamical extreme condition
(1) High-Pressure
Present status: Ultra-high pressure and low temperature conditions of 180 GPa & 100 K and 300 GPa & 100 K have been achieved for X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering experiments, respectively.
Target: Development of experimental techniques to extend high-pressure and low-temperature ranges to 200 GPa & 10 K and 400 GPa & 100 K for each experiment.
(2) Low-temperature environment
Present status: We carry out experiments at temperatures down to 10mK.
Target: Cooling samples to an ultra-low temperature below 1 mK and performing high-precision measurements using SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device).
(3) Multi-extreme conditions (low temperature, high pressure, and high magnetic field)
Present status: Nuclear resonant scattering experiment under multi-extreme conditions (down to 1.5 K, up to 20 GPa, and up to 8 T)
Target: The limit of low temperature will be down to be 100 mK.
2. Spatial and Temporal limit
(1) Real space
Present status: X-ray microscopy with spatial resolution of a few 100 nm has been opened for users.
Target: Developing new x-ray optical devises and aiming to achieve 10-nm-level focusing
(2) Combined spaces (real and angular spaces)
Present status: Highly paralleｌ microbeam with size of 1.0 µm (H)×0.4 µm (V) and with angular divergence of 40 µrad (H) has been achieved.
Target: The above horizontal emittance reaches diffraction limit. Either the size or angular divergence will be advanced.
(3) Real time
Present status: Portable measurement system of optical reflectivity with a time resolution of 50 ps has been developed to monitor optical properties of samples on synchrotron X-ray measurements.
Target: An ultrafast broadband spectrometer will be developed for femtosecond X-ray experiments with a precision of 100 fs.
We promote the advancement of existing equipment for creating extreme conditions and technology for preparing novel crystal samples, and expand (i) the study on structural phase transitions to metallic phase of solid hydrogen and solid oxygen under ultrahigh pressure, (ii )the study on crystal structure and magnetism of the transition metal and/or rare earth metal compounds under high pressure, (iii) the study on the phenomenon competing coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in heavy fermion systems, (iv) the research for high-precision evaluation of crystal distortion in the micro region of the semiconducting materials and so on, taking advantage of the large synchrotron radiation facility, SPring-8 and the Low-Temperature Center at the Faculty of Science.