Innovative turnbuckle DAC for X-ray Applications

Product Description

The Diacell® TozerDAC-Xray is a turnbuckle-style diamond anvil cell based on the ingenious and novel design of Prof. Stan Tozer (Florida State University and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, USA).   The cell is described in the paper Graf et al., High Pressure Research vol.31, No.4, pg.533 (2011). Almax easyLab developed the TozerDAC in full collaboration with Prof. Tozer.

A typical diamond anvil cell might have anvil support tables for translational and tilt alignment and associated screws, a two-part body, alignment pins and screws to apply and lock in the load. The turnbuckle DAC, on the other hand, has only three parts plus the two anvils: the body (buckle) and the two endcaps (eyelets).  Cylindrical surfaces on the leading and trailing edges of the turnbuckle endcaps engage the body of the turnbuckle at its mid and end points, providing a reasonable length-to-diameter ratio that ensures proper alignment of the diamond anvils.

The smallest culet size for this diamond anvil cell is C = 0.50mm.

An external load mechanism is used to advance the endcaps into the body a sufficient distance without engaging the threads of the body so that the body can then be turned with minimal torque, locking in the required load.

Applications

The Diacell® TozerDAC-Xray is suitable for X-ray work at low temperatures in lab-based diffractometers.  Reducing the atomic thermal vibrations is one of the ways of improving the quality of the diffraction data and it is common for the X-ray diffractometer to be accompanied by a cryo-flow (or cryo-jet) liquid nitrogen cooling system. The TozerDAC-Xray is particularly suited for such arrangement.

A video showing the cell (in its plastic holder) mounted on a diffractometer equipped with a Cryojet system is available on our YouTube channel here.

Note that the TozerDAC can also be used in conjunction of the ST-500 cryostat of Janis. Almax easyLab can supply an adapting holder (click here) to accomodate the TozerDAC-X-ray onto the cold stage of the ST-500.