IR pyrometry in diamond anvil cell above 400 K

Temperature measurements in a laser heated diamond anvil cell (DAC) are currently limited to temperatures above 1000 K using optics and detectors in the visible range. We have built a pyrometer in the IR range and expanded the lower limit of temperature detection to 400 K. The pyrometer is designed for very low thermal radiation intensities, measured sequentially through a set of bandpass filters in the range of 1.2-3.4 mu m using very efficient IR photodetectors. The thermal radiation from the center of the cw Nd:YAG laser heated spot is least square fitted to a Planck curve, using a gray body approximation. Melting is detected by changes in the light scattering picture of an auxiliary He-Ne laser from the surface of the hot spot, and by a change in slope in the plot of hot spot temperature versus laser power. In this work we demonstrate measurement of the melting curve of zinc up to 25 GPa. The melting curve is in very good agreement with previous results which were taken up to 6 GPa in a large volume press. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.