PEARL: the high pressure neutron powder diffractometer at ISIS

Abstract

The PEARL instrument at ISIS has been designed for, and dedicated to, in situ studies of materials at high pressure, using the Paris–Edinburgh press. In recent years, upgrades to the instrument have led to improvements in data quality and the range of achievable pressures and temperatures; currently 0.5–28 GPa and 80–1400 K. This paper describes the technical characteristics of the instrument, its current capabilities, and gives a brief overview of the science that has been performed, using representative examples.