We scientists now admit that all matters on earth are made of atoms from the universe. If so, we must also admit that the astonishing diversity and striking dynamism of the lives on earth are also the result of “atomic events”! By constructing the high-resolution high pressure NMR and applying it to proteins in nature, the author with his colleagues discovered that, under physiological conditions, most folded proteins in nature are constantly fluctuating, allowing water penetration into their interior and simultaneously forming their low-lying excited states or high-energy substates to perform their specific function.

Silicate melts are suggested to exist at the bottom of the Earth’s mantle and may play important roles in the thermal and chemical evolution of the Earth. Silicate glasses provide valuable analogues for such melts, as many of their physical properties resemble those of the liquid state. This article reviews our recent experimental investigations of the physical properties of iron-bearing silicate glasses under pressure conditions relevant to the lower mantle, including measurements of elastic-wave velocity, electrical conductivity, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. These measurements provide key constraints for understanding the stability and behavior of silicate melts at the base of the mantle.

Scintillators are used in various fields as radiation detectors. Their properties, such as emission wavelength or decay time, depend on material. Scintillator that has ps decay time is required for time-of-flight measurement. BaF₂ crystal has an ultrafast luminescence called cross-luminescence (CL) due to core-valence luminescence with a decay time of 600 ps. CL wavelength has a peak at deep or vacuum ultraviolet range, therefore, it is difficult to detect with photomultipliers. The first-principles calculation predicted the CL shifts to a longer wavelength by applying pressure to the crystal. In this research, we demonstrated the CL shift applying high pressure.

Shock material processing induces plastic deformation, defect introduction, phase transitions, chemical reactions, compaction, and bonding in specimens through the high shock pressures generated by the generation of shock waves within the specimens. The target materials can include single-crystal plates, powders, polycrystalline metals, ceramics, or even glass. Although the applied shock pressure reaches only tens of GPa—a pressure achievable even with static compression methods—it exhibits distinct characteristics, including an extremely short duration of high pressure and gram-level processing quantities. This paper presents an overview of the processing method and recent examples of shock material processing using a single-stage gun.

We have developed a piston cylinder pressure cell (PCC) made of a Ni-Cr-Al alloy for pulsed magnetic field experiment and magnetic susceptibility measurement system using an LC tank circuit with a proximity detector oscillator. The increase from the initial temperature of 1.4 K at the sample position due to Joule heating of the PCC’s metallic parts was suppressed until approximately 80 % of the maximum magnetic field during the field-up sweep. This system uses a tiny sensor coil that is inserted into the PCC with a sample. Consequently, we could study the pressure- and field-induced phase transitions of triangular-lattice antiferromagnets (Ba₃CoSb₂O₉ and CsCuCl₃) with high sensitivity.

High-pressure techniques for searching for ferroelectric ice are reviewed. Fundamental knowledge of ice related to its dielectric properties and ferroelectricity, and three types of high-pressure cells developed using piston-cylinder and Bridgman anvil techniques, are introduced. As cells for dielectric measurements of ice under high pressure were previously reported in the Review of High Pressure Science and Technology, the developed cell for neutron diffraction measurements under high pressure and high electric field (up to 6.2 GPa and 10.2 kV/mm) is mainly reviewed with experimental results of a search for a ferroelectrically ordered form of ice VII.