Welcome to the High Pressure Mineral Physics and Materials Sciences Laboratory

Window to the Earth’s Interior

The three concentric layers - the core, mantle, and crust formed within a few hundred million years of Earth's coalescence 4.5 billion years ago.

History The first river-bed (alluvial) diamonds were probably discovered in India, in around 800 B.C. In South Africa in 1870 diamond was found in the earth far from a river source, and the practice of dry-digging for diamonds was born.

The Kooh-i-noor has a longest history for an extant stone. Firstly, in 1304 as a diamond in the possession of the Rajah of Malwa, later, it fell into the hands of the Sultan Baber. This was a time when possession of such a gem symbolized the power of an empire. The Kooh-i-noor (109 carats)

In 1911 a new crown was made for the coronation of Queen Mary with the Koh-i-Noor as the center stone. In 1937, it was transferred to the crown of Queen Elizabeth (now Queen Mother) for her coronation. It is now on display with the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. The Koh-i-Noor was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the East India Company. It was displayed at the Crystal Palace Exposition

Orloff Diamond 189 carats The time passed, the stone arrived at Amsterdam where the Russian count Grigori Orloff was residing. The stone has been called the Orloff since then. Catherine received his gift and had it mounted in the Imperial Sceptre. In 1812 the Russians, fearing that Napoleon with his Grand Army was about to enter Moscow, hid the Orloff in a priest's tomb. Napoleon supposedly discovered the Orloff's location and went to claim it. However, as a solider of the Army was about to touch the Orloff, a priest's ghost appeared and pronounced a terrible curse upon the Army. The Emperor, Napoleon scampered away without the Orloff. First, it may have been set at one time as the diamond eye of Vishnu's idol (one of the Hindu Gods) in the innermost sanctuary temple in Sriangam, before being stolen in the 1700s by a French deserter.

Cullinan, 530 carats The Tiffany (128 carats), the best known yellow diamond. The Hope, Hope was once owned by Louis XIV and was officially designated "the blue diamond of the crown." Pumkin Diamond

Diamond Mining An "independent" operation using the simplest technology: shovel, pan, water, and muscles.

Structures of Graphite and Diamond

Synthesis of new diamond –like materials from BCN triangle under HPHT

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Diamonds can form at depths as shallow as 150 kilometers beneath the continental crust, while beneath oceans they need depths of at least 200 kilometers, as shown by the diamond boundary on the cross-section. Graphite is transformed in diamond under high pressure atmospheres and 1400 degrees C o. This magnitude of pressure is difficult to comprehend. For example, the pressure of 55,000 atmospheres necessary to make a diamond at 1400 degrees C (orange hot) would require the Eiffel Tower (7000 metric tons) resting on a 5 inch plate.

Large Volume Press

Structure of the new C 3 N 4 phase synthesized at SOEST  -C 3 N 4 s tructure

Fullerene 0D Graphite, Graphene (= single sheet) 2D sp 2 Diamond 3D sp 3 Nanotube 1D

Coating-Enabled Component Design

The Future The space shuttle presently uses diamond-coated low-friction hinges in various moving parts, but future uses may include diamond windows and diamond radiation-detectors in scientific instruments, and electronics with diamond heat- spreaders or flat panel displays with diamond-powered pixels.

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