High pressure mineral physics is a field that has shaped our understanding of deep planetary interiors and revealed new material phenomena occurring at extreme conditions. Comprised of sixteen chapters written by well-established experts, this book covers recent advances in static and dynamic compression techniques and enhanced diagnostic capabilities, including synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction, spectroscopic measurements, in situ X-ray diffraction under dynamic loading, and multigrain crystallography at megabar pressures. Applications range from measuring equations of state, elasticity, and deformation of materials at high pressure, to high pressure synthesis, thermochemistry of high pressure phases, and new molecular compounds and superconductivity under extreme conditions. This book also introduces experimental geochemistry in the laser-heated diamond-anvil cell enabled by the focused ion beam technique for sample recovery and quantitative chemical analysis at submicron scale. Each chapter ends with an insightful perspective of future directions, making it an invaluable source for graduate students and researchers.

During the last thirty years profound developments in expe- rimental techniques to measure high temperature and pressu- res and thermodynamic properties of minerals have occurred. This technical development has been matched by an increased sophistication in applying theoretical methods to obtain new data or improve the quality of existing data. Using these newtechniques, Assessed Thermodynamic Data on Oxides and Silicates represents the successful attempt of the authors to develop an internally systematized data base which satis- fies the constraints of calorimetric measurements, phase equilibrium data, measured thermophysical properties of a phase, and heat capacities and entropies estimated from lat- tice vibrational models.