The development of the Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) to generate high pressures on a small scale has led to numerous innovations across multiple disciplines. In condensed matter systems, we use the application of hydrostatic pressure to tune the physical and structural properties of materials, with the possibility of inducing exotic magnetic or conducting behaviours. Using a Diacell CryoDAC-ST pressure cell paired with a Lake Shore Janis ST-500 continuous flow cryostat, we conducted a Raman scattering spectroscopic study of the frustrated magnet Pr2Zr2O7 in the pressure range of 4-15GPa at temperatures between 12K and 300K, and in a spectral range down to 2.5meV. The Pr2Zr2O7 and Ruby data were obtained using a T64000 Horiba Jobin-Yvon triple monochromator spectrometer in micro-Raman configuration.
To perform the measurement, we developed an optimized technique of loading the cell and calibrating the pressure and temperature of the sample during the measurements. The cleaved sample piece, ruby ball, and pressure transmitting medium were loaded in the sub-millimetre-sized DAC sample chamber using a MicroSupport Axis Pro FC Micromanipulator. An in situ calibration method for pressure and temperature using Ruby fluorescence lines was developed and applied to the obtained data. Through this experiment, we examined phonons and crystal electric field excitations of Pr2Zr2O7 in a high-pressure/low-temperature phase space, allowing us to elucidate interesting dynamic lattice effects.
