COMPRES is a community-based consortium, comprised of and governed by 57 US member institutions, that supports research in the properties of materials that comprise the interiors of Earth and other planetary bodies, with particular emphasis on highpressure science and technology and related fields. It is charged with the oversight and guidance of specialized high-pressure laboratories at several national synchrotron facilities. COMPRES supports the operation of beam lines, the development of new technologies for high-pressure research, and advocates for science and educational programs to the various funding agencies. In addition to the US membership, 39 foreign institutions are non-voting affiliates of COMPRES.
The member institutions guide the direction of the consortium and define its missions. The intellectual and scientific goals of COMPRES are described in the report "Understanding the Building Blocks of the Planet: The Materials Science of Earth Processes", which came out of a 2009 planning workshop (www.compres.us). Through its support of advanced tools for Earth science experimentation, COMPRES enables research on the compositional and thermal structure of Earths interior, its evolution through time, and the dynamical behavior of the crust, mantle and core. There is an intimate relationship between the scientific goals of COMPRES and other geophysical disciplines. The results of mineral physics measurements carried out at COMPRES-supported facilities are critical for interpreting seismological and other geophysical observations in terms of the physical, chemical, and dynamical state of Earths interior. Many of the scientific objectives of the seismological community require investigations of the material properties of Earth materials at extreme pressures and temperatures, as pursued by the COMPRES community. Research done at COMPRES-supported facilities also addresses questions of direct societal impact, such as the causes of earthquakes, carbon sequestration, natural resources, and basic research into new advanced materials.
COMPRES supports the operations and equipment needs of three synchrotron beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS, Brookhaven National Laboratory), and one at the Advanced Light Source (ALS, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). X-ray beam line X17B2 at NSLS is a center for rheology and equations of state measurements on materials at high pressures and temperatures, using the Large-Volume Multi-Anvil Press (LVP) and a Drickamer deformation apparatus. Beam lines X17B3 and X17C at NSLS are for high-energy X-ray studies of materials using the diamond-anvil cell (DAC) high-pressure apparatus, with resistance and laser heating. Beam line U2A is the worldleading facility for high-pressure infrared spectroscopy. Beam line 12.2.2 at the ALS is the COMPRES West-Coast facility for high-pressure high-temperature research using the diamond cell, and is developing into a center for resistance heating for DAC applications, as well as for laser-heating experiments. COMPRES also supports nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and synchrotron Mössbauer research at Sector 3 of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). Under the new 5-year cooperative agreement, COMPRES will establish a COMPRES Technology Center (COMPTECH) at the APS to develop high-pressure capabilities utilizing other advanced synchrotron techniques, such as single-crystal micro-diffraction, and momentum resolved inelastic scattering. With the planned completion of the NSLS-II - the newest US synchrotron ? in 2015, COMPRES will support high-pressure experimentation at the Project beam line XPD. In addition to providing facilities for large volume and diamond cell experiments upon startup of NSLS-II, a COMPTECH office at NSLS-II will help to exploit the unique capabilities of this new world-leading facility for a new generation of experiments at extreme pressure-temperature conditions.
