Record-high pressure reveals secrets of matter
Linköping University
As pressure increases, the distance between the atoms decreases, and the outer electrons, the highly mobile valence electrons, interact with each other. Osmium is the metal with the highest density and is almost as incompressible as diamond. The high pressure didn’t result in any significant change to the valence electrons, which surprised us. A. Abrikosov. The researchers in Bayreuth, with the help of nanotechnology, have developed a small synthetic diamond that is positioned halfway between two ordinary diamonds, on each side of the Osmium crystal.