The deep sea encompasses more than 90% of Earth’s habitable volume, characterized by low temperatures and high pressures, with pressure increasing by about 1 bar per 10 meters depth. This extreme environment is home to unique organisms with remarkable adaptations. The biological relevance of hydrostatic pressure is becoming much more widely understood and appreciated as discoveries of new niches for extreme life continue to emerge.

Cornell University's High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) recently hosted a multi-day workshop on High Energy X-ray Techniques (HEXT) from May 14 to 15, 2024.

Plasmonic semiconductor nanocrystals have become an appealing avenue for researching nanoscale plasmonic effects due to their wide spectral range (visible to infrared) and great tunability compared to traditional precious metal nanocrystals. CuFeS₂ is an exciting semiconductor that has a prominent plasmon absorption band in the visible range (∼498 nm).

There is a fundamental (quantum) limit to the smallest value of angular momentum that a particle can have. This value is typically denoted as ½ - the value of the spin angular momentum of a single electron. Recently, researchers have realized that materials made up of heavy elements (like iridium) can exhibit a state where the spin and orbital angular momentum of 5d electrons couple strongly together in a total angular momentum J_eff, which nevertheless still attains the quantum limit of ½.

Rai and co-workers addressed this problem by developing a novel high-pressure SAXS cell that is suitable for routine use. By using single-crystal diamond windows in combination with high-energy X-rays, SAXS data can be obtained from biological samples at up to 4000-times atmospheric pressure (400 MPa) with temperatures ranging from 0 to 80C. This cell design prioritizes ease of sample loading, temperature control, mechanical stability and X-ray background minimization.