High-Pressure Physics, Institute of

High-Pressure Physics, Institute of 

a scientific research institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR at which research is conducted on the physical properties of solid bodies under pressure and where equipment for obtaining ultrahigh pressures is developed. The institute was established in Moscow in 1958 on the basis of the Laboratory of Ultrahigh Pressures of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Since 1965 it has been located at the academy’s science center at Krasnaia Pakhra in Podol’sk Raion, Moscow Oblast. The institute was founded by Academician L. F. Vereshchagin, who was also its director until 1977.

The Institute of High-Pressure Physics has made major contributions to the study of polymorphism under pressure. Research on quantum effects in solids, including superconductivity and metal-dielectric transitions, has been conducted at the institute. Transitions of hydrogen and some other dielectrics to the metallic state have been accomplished by reaching the megabar range of pressures.

Single crystals of diamond and single isometric crystals of boron nitride were synthesized at the institute in 1960 for the first time in the USSR. Methods of synthesizing polycrystalline diamonds have also been developed at the institute, where polycrystalline diamonds with ultrahigh hardness have been produced. An industry for the production of synthetic diamonds and isometric crystals of boron nitride has been created on the basis of the institute’s work. These substances are used for abrasive, cutting, and drilling tools and high-pressure equipment. A method of the pressurized extrusion of metals has also been developed at the institute.

The institute was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1963.

R. G. ARKHIPOV and E. S. ITSKEVICH