Learning how liquid silicates behave at these extreme temperatures and pressures has been a longstanding challenge in the geosciences.

Chemist Ben Ofori-Okai investigates what happens to matter under extreme conditions at microscopic scales to better understand its behavior at massive scales, such as what happens in the Earth’s core.

Researchers used a unique approach to learn more about what happens to silicon under intense pressure.

In a first, researchers measure extremely small and fast changes that occur in plasma when it’s zapped with a laser. Their technique will have applications in astrophysics, medicine and fusion energy.