Design, calibration, and performance of a uniaxial pressure cell for neutron scattering studies of quantum magnetism

L Ø Sandberg; M L Haubro; K M L Krighaar; R Edberg; I M B Fjellvåg; M Guthrie; A T Holmes; L Mangin-Thro; A Wildes; P Henelius; K Lefmann; P P Deen

doi:10.1063/5.0152136

Design, calibration, and performance of a uniaxial pressure cell for neutron scattering studies of quantum magnetism

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Oct 1;94(10):103901. doi: 10.1063/5.0152136.

Authors

L Ø Sandberg¹, M L Haubro^{1

2}, K M L Krighaar¹, R Edberg³, I M B Fjellvåg⁴, M Guthrie^{5

6

7}, A T Holmes⁵, L Mangin-Thro⁸, A Wildes⁸, P Henelius^{3

9}, K Lefmann¹, P P Deen^{1

10}

Affiliations

¹ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
² Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
³ Physics Department, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, University of Oslo, 0315 Oslo, Norway.
⁵ European Spallation Source ERIC, 22363 Lund, Sweden.
⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy and Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
⁷ Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA.
⁸ Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 20156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
⁹ Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Åbo, Finland.
¹⁰ European Spallation Source ERIC, Partikelgatan 224 84, Lund, Sweden.

PMID: 37787628
DOI: 10.1063/5.0152136

Abstract

We provide an overview of a pressure cell designed to apply uniaxial pressure to single crystals for the study, by neutron scattering techniques, of strongly correlated magnetic systems and, in particular, quantum magnets. A detailed overview of the pressure cell components, their requirements, and links to the scientific and technical specifications are presented. The pressure cell is able to accommodate a 200 mm3 single crystal that can be pressurized up to 2 GPa at cryogenic temperatures. The pressure cell is consistent with the requirements of inelastic neutron scattering and, importantly, neutron polarization analysis. A particular strength of the uniaxial pressure cell is the highly uniform and low background for a wide scattering angle of 360° horizontally and ±20° vertically. We show the performance of the uniaxial pressure cell using a relevant neutron scattering instrument, the polarized diffuse scattering instrument, D7. The experiments confirm that the cell complies with the scientific and technical requirements. This uniaxial pressure cell will provide a useful additional tool in the sample environment suite available for the study of quantum magnetism.