The double-diamond anvil cell, the poor-man's megabar pressure cell

We present a new configuration for diamond anvils used in high pressure research. We show how to make a gasketed diamond indentor cell (DIC) in a conventional diamond anvil cell (DAC). Moreover, diamond anvils an order of magnitude smaller than those currently used can easily be mounted, with minor modification. These configurations are called DIC-DACs and double DACs (D-DACs). D-DACs have been tested to a megabar and appear to have the same range as a conventional DAC. D-DACs can lower the cost of diamonds for high pressure research by more than an order of magnitude. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)00412-8].