Faculty Spotlight for May 2007

Tom Duffy has been at Princeton since 1997. His research program focuses on understanding the large-scale physical and chemical behavior of the Earth and other planets through experimental study of geological materials under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. Duffy and his students use the laser-heated diamond anvil cell together with optical spectroscopy and x- ray techniques to explore crystal structures, phase relations, elasticity, and deformation behavior at ultra-high pressure and temperature conditions.

Recent efforts have focused on:

1. Understanding the properties of mineral phases that exist near the Earth's core-mantle boundary, 2900 km below the surface. In particular, they are using synchrotron x-ray diffraction to study the post-perovskite and to understand how its properties can explain seismic observations from this region.


2. The presence of hydrogen even in small quantities can strongly influence many physical properties of minerals. They are studying how water affects the elastic properties of minerals of the Earth's upper mantle. These results will enable us to better understand hydrogen cycling through the Earth's interior.

Current group members include graduate students Susannah Dorfman and Zhu Mao and post-doctoral fellow Fuming Jiang.

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