1 Historical Developments and Future Perspectives …
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1.7 Applications
In this chapter, on the basis of recent applications and developments of NRS at the
Nuclear Resonance beamline at the ESRF, we attempt to foresee future applications
of NRS, focusing on most challenging scientific cases. Driven by the expected instrumental development of Nuclear Resonance Scattering at Extremely Brilliant Source
(EBS) at the ESRF, we analyse possible future applications in two conceptual frames:
Nano-Scale Science and Micro-eV Atomic Dynamics.
1.7.1 Nano-Scale Science
With the EBS Upgrade Programme [119], the Nuclear Resonance beamline at the
ESRF expects to offer users with the beam size of about 200 nm. This development
is expected to be most beneficial for studies at ultra-high pressure and in fields such
as magnetism, superconductivity, geoscience, and nano-paleomagnetism.
1.7.1.1 Ultra-High Pressure
High-pressure studies are one of the evident highlights of nuclear resonance scattering experiments with synchroton radiation sources. This is driven by the intrinsic small size and collimation of synchrotron radiation and by the straightforward
focusing capabilities using compound refractive lenses and Kirkpatrick-Baez optics,
respectively.
At present, the available beam size at nuclear resonance beamlines is about 10 μm.
This is sufficient to use most elaborated single-stage diamond anvil cells (DACs),
allowing to reach pressures as high as a few hundreds GPa. Figure 1.15 outlines
the studies of magnetism in Ni metal, conducted at pressures up to 260 GPa [120].
Though the statistical accuracy of the data at highest pressures is relatively moderate,
it nevertheless enables the reliable determination of the magnetic hyperfine field. The
data provide a solid evidence that Ni stays ferromagnetic up to 260 GPa, the highest
pressure where magnetism has been observed so far (Fig. 1.15, left panel). They also
reveal the importance of accounting for relativistic effects in the theory of magnetic
interactions in Ni (Fig. 1.15, right panel).
The above example showcases the frontiers of high-pressure research at existing
nuclear resonance beamlines. However, they are still far away from the limits of
available static-pressure equipment, determined by recently developed double-stage
diamond anvil cells [121].
In the double-stage DAC, a sample is pressurized between two micro-anvils
(semi-balls made of nanocrystalline diamonds), which are attached to the culets
of the opposed gem quality diamonds (Fig. 1.16). Due to the small diameter of the
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