Matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure

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Abstract
Research on matter at extreme conditions has provided new insights into material behaviour at atmospheric pressure. The application of high pressure is the simplest way to change the lattice spacing and has led to the discovery of new phenomena, new phases and new forms of electronic and ionic order. The application of high temperatures leads to melting, atomic and electronic excitation, and eventually to ionisation and the formation of a plasma state. The combination of high pressures and temperatures continues to present a severe challenge to experimental and theoretical advances. However, current experimental methods permit material studies at pressures of several megabars and temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees Kelvin. The rapid surge in computer technology has, in turn, permitted the solution of many previously intractable theoretical problems. High-pressure research supplies information about the properties of geologic materials which, when coupled with data from seismic waves and space probes, provides information about the structure of planetary interiors.