A Journey to the Center of the Earth: Introduction to High-pressure Mineral Physics Laboratory

The research interests of the Extreme Conditions Laboratory (ECL) at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, focus on exploring physical properties of minerals under extreme conditions, e.g., extremely high pressure (up to 150 GPa), high/low temperature (tens to thousands of Kelvin), high magnetic field (few Tesla) and short time scale (picoseconds to nanoseconds). Our current researches include using ultrafast optics combined with extreme pressure and temperature techniques to simulate the environments in the Earth and planetary interior, and to study thermal conductivity, sound velocity, Raman spectroscopy and magnetism of important minerals (Mg,Fe)SiO3 bridgmanite, (Mg,Fe)O ferropericlase, and (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 olivine, etc. Our ultimate goals are to understand various geodynamic phenomena and their dynamic processes in the Earth and planetary interior, and to help explain enigmatic seismic wave observations.