Diamond capsules allow ambient analysis of high-pressure samples
Crystalline forms of argon and neon can now be analysed using techniques that would previously have been impossible
High-pressure phases of materials can be preserved at ambient pressure by allowing the gaseous material to diffuse into glassy carbon before crushing the carbon into diamond. The process makes some of the most important analytical techniques in modern materials science such as transmission electron microscopy feasible for high-pressure samples, and could even lead to applications for metastable high-pressure phases of matter.