CSEC and the School of Physics and Astronomy hosted the 4th High-Pressure Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction Summer School at the University of Edinburgh from 6 to 10 July 2026. The local organising team was led by CSEC member Dominique Laniel. The five-day School introduced methods for single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) structure studies at extreme pressures in diamond anvil cells to early-career scientists (Masters and PhD students, postdocs) and established scientists working in the field of high-pressure research.

Recent methodological advancements in high-pressure SCXRD have drastically extended its applications, previously mostly limited to ~20 GPa and individual single crystals, and now reaching hundreds of GPa and temperatures of thousands of degrees on submicron-sized polycrystalline aggregates. An overview of the necessary fundamental theoretical and methodological principles, including diamond anvil cell preparation, experimental strategies, laser heating, introduction to the relevant software and SCXRD, was covered through lectures accompanied by demonstrations, hands-on sessions and step-by-step tutorials. Participants gained hands-on experience in basic high-pressure SCXRD experiments, as well as data processing and interpretation.

Summer School website: https://indico.ph.ed.ac.uk/event/392/