P61B Large Volume Press (DESY)

Location of beamline P61 and end station P61B in the Paul P. Ewald hall.

The Large Volume Press (LVP) extreme conditions station uses synchrotron X-ray radiation in a continuous energy range of 30 - 160 keV (although photons with higher energies are produced). The station is designed for the combination of ED-XRD and Radiography Imaging techniques. The structure and properties of samples can be measured in situ using these techniques under extreme conditions of high pressures and temperatures. Various anvil combinations and additional cell assembly set ups are available and being developed.

Aster-15, installed at P61B, is the world’s first 6-rams-LVP operated at a synchrotron facility. This type of instrument offers deformation capability, precise control of the anvil positions and high efficiency of pressure generation. Experiments at extreme conditions of high pressures and temperatures are possible in various modes using a combination of 6 first-stage anvils and 6 or 8 second-stage anvils (6-6 and 6-8 compression geometries, respectively). Using the 6-8 mode with tungsten carbide second stage anvils, pressures up to 30 GPa can be generated at the expense of a smaller anvil gap, up to 10 degrees for diffracted X-rays. Alternatively, the 6-6 mode offers a wider anvil gap, particularly up to 27 degrees in the vertical plane for diffracted X-rays, but the maximum sample pressure is limited to about 15 GPa. Also, controlled deformation of samples is only possible in 6-6 mode using 2 Ge-detectors.

As a potential visitor, you are encouraged to prepare experiments in advance and bring your own anvils. See Visiting guidelines. The P61B sample preparation laboratory is available during (and possibly prior to) beam time or experiment time. Contact the beamline if you do not have any resources but wish to conduct (in situ) high-PT LVP experiments on scientifically interesting materials.

Other information about the beamline can be found in the menus on the left. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the beamline manager, Dr. Robert Farla.



Announcements

P61B continues normal operations. The guest house is usually fully booked out. Please register as early as possible!

Call for proposals:
Regular proposals: CLOSED (deadline: tba)
Long Term Proposals: CLOSED (deadline: tba)
Offline LVP proposals: OPEN (see below)

Meetings:
P61B @ SRI, Hamburg: UPCOMING (26-30 Aug 2024)


Apply for offline LVP experiments

Submit a project proposal for offline experiments in the LVP. Applications for up to 5 days for one or multiple visits during the available periods are possible.

Available dates in 2024:

  • Jan - Feb (discuss with Beamline Manager)
  • 08 - 19 April
  • 27 - 31 May
  • 24 - 28 June

Key limitations:
1. Generally no user support on weekends.
2. Availability of dates is subject to school holidays and beamline maintenance during shutdown periods

Apply for benchtop XRD

Apply for the use of the beamline benchtop X-ray diffractometer. Applications can be submitted any time.



The GNR theta-theta XRD



Visiting guidelines

↦ Read the following information here, before visiting.

Please decide whether you prefer Collaborative or Independent beam/experiment time.


Mail-in experiments

P61B LVP offers conditional access for mail-in beam time (or experiment time).

The decision for mail-in is made as soon as the PI is requested to accept dates for their beam time / experiment time, and knows travel will be impossible. Hence, the decision is made well in advance! We hope that our service will encourage scientists from other continents (i.e. not Europe) to submit proposals. Mail-in does not mean the PI and participants are not available during the scheduled beam time. Their agenda must be free of other commitments while beamline staff runs the experiments. Remote participation is expected.

For mail-in, we prefer to receive complete cell assemblies, or otherwise encapsulated samples (powders / solids only!) Do not send anything without prior discussions with the beamline staff!


ErUM-Pro

The BMBF funded the project 05K16WC2 Aster-15 LVP, titled "Erweiterung der Druckbereiche der In-Situ-Röntgenbeobachtung mit der Großvolumen-Hochdruckapparatur an der PETRA-III-Extension des Deutschen Elektronen-Synchrotrons DESY" from University Bayreuth (T. Katsura).