9506650 Anderson This award provides partial funding for the development of a dilatometer to measure the thermal expansion of crystals up to temperatures of 1800K. The instrument design is based on the application of laser optical interferometry, and a prototype built in the principal investigator's laboratory has demonstrated capabilities up to 1000K. Upgrading the design for performance at higher temperatures is important because the main applications of the instrument will be to characterize the thermal expansion coefficients of mineral phases stable under the high-temperature conditions of the Earth's crust and upper mantle. ***
