High pressure generation and investigation of the spin transition of ferropericlase (Mg_0.83Fe_0.17)O

High pressure generation has been tried by using the Kawai-cell equipped with sintered diamond cubes in conjunction with investigation of the spin transition in Fe²⁺ of (Mg_0.83Fe_0.17)O (ferropericlase, Fp). The Kawai-cell was squeezed in the DIA type press SPEED mkII installed at SPring-8. The volumes of the Fp and Au pressure standard were simultaneously determined by in situ X-ray diffraction using the synchrotron radiation. The maximum attainable pressure has reached 90 GPa at 300 K based on Anderson et al.'s Au scale [4]. The P-V data of (Mg_0.83Fe_0.17)O were acquired at 300 K and 700 K up to 90 GPa. From detailed analysis of the compression data, it is suggested that the spin transition proceeds over pressure ranges from 50 to 70 GPa at 300 K and from 50 to 75 GPa at 700 K.