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This report describes the development of a high-frequency ultrasonic measurement capability for application to the study of phase transitions at elevated pressure and temperature. We combined expertise in various aspects of static high-pressure technique with recent advances in wave propagation modeling, ultrasonic transducer development, electronic methods and broadband instrumentation to accomplish the goals of this project. The transduction and electronic systems have a demonstrated bandwidth of 400 MHz, allowing investigations of phenomena with characteristic times as short as 2.5 nS. A compact, pneumatically driven moissanite anvil cell was developed and constructed for this project. This device generates a high-pressure environment for mm dimension samples to pressures of 3 GPa. Ultrasonic measurements were conducted in the moissanite cell, an LLNL multi-anvil device and in a modified piston cylinder device. Measurements for water, and elemental tantalum, tin and cerium demonstrate the success of the methods. The {gamma}-{alpha} phase transition in cerium was clearly detected at {approx}0.7 GPa with 75 MHz longitudinal waves. These results have direct application to important problems in LLNL programs, as well as seismology and planetary science.

Using a diamond anvil cell, phase transformation and RT equation of state for lanthanide and actinides were studied to multimegabars. Experimental data are compared with theoretical crystal structural changes and P-V relations. A generalized trend for phase transformations in lanthanides can be seen, which has broad agreement with theory. Broad agreement is also seen for structural changes in lighter actinides, with some discrepancies. It is concluded that an accurate, robust theoretical base for predicting phase transformations in the f- electron metals can be developed by incorporating DAC data as markers for fine tuning the theory.

Using a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) phase transformation and room temperature Equation of State (EOS) for some actinides and lanthanides were studied to multimegabar (megabar = 100 GPa) pressures. Experimental data are compared with the theoretically predicted crystal structural changes and the pressure-volume relationships. There is a general agreement between theory and experiment for the structural changes in the lighter actinides, however in detail there are some discrepancies still. A generalized trend for the phase transformations in the lanthanides can be seen, which again has broad agreement with theory. We conclude that an accurate and robust theoretical base for predicting the phase transformations in the f-electron metals can be developed by incorporating the DAC data.