Exploring the structural response and property transformations of materials under combined extreme conditions is of fundamental and multidisciplinary interest. Extreme pressures can induce novel phases with exotic properties, while swift heavy ions deposit along their trajectories extremely high energy densities (~eV/atom) on sub-fs timescales, driving materials far from equilibrium and generating complex defect configurations. The combination of static high pressure and heavy ion irradiation has been shown to produce structural modifications not accessible by either extreme alone [1-2]. This presentation concerns the technical details and commissioning results of a newly upgraded platform for ion-irradiation experiments under multi-GPa static pressure conditions at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research (Darmstadt, Germany), now accessible to external users [3]. The GSI SIS18 accelerator provides heavy ions with tens of GeV kinetic energies, capable of penetrating through diamond anvil cells and depositing extremely high energy densities within the pressurized samples. This energy deposition triggers ultrafast, localized structural and phase transformations at the nanoscale. The platform integrates online optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, providing real-time monitoring of material modifications during stepwise fluence accumulation [4]. By enabling controlled studies of structural responses and phase transitions under coupled extreme conditions, this setup opens unprecedented opportunities for research across condensed-matter physics, materials science, geoscience, high-pressure chemistry, and planetary science.

[1] M. Lang et al. Nanoscale manipulation of the properties of solids at high pressure with relativistic heavy ions Nat. Mater. 8(10), 793–797 (2009).
[2] U. A. Glasmacher et al.  Phase transitions in solids stimulated by simultaneous exposure to high pressure and relativistic heavy ions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 195701 (2006).
[3] Tzifas et al. Experimental platform for combining high pressure and swift heavy ion irradiations. Phys. Rev. Res., accepted (2026)
[4] Liang et al.  Structural and optical responses of molecular solids to swift heavy ion irradiation under high pressures, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2026).

 

High pressure; Swift heavy ion irradiation; Phase transitions; Structural tranformation