Thermal diffusivity of metals at high pressure*

Very few measurements of thermal diffusivity have been taken at high pressure. This is especially true of metals above 2 GPa. In earlier experiments, the Angstrom method has been employed for these types of measurements. However, this method is limited for high pressure because it requires a relatively large sample. We will discuss the use of sinusoidally modulated laser heating to measure thermal diffusivity in the diamond-anvil-cell.