Velocity of sound and equation of state at high pressures determined by impulsive stimulated scattering

It is noted that impulsive stimulated scattering and related time-domain spectroscopic methods offer a convenient optical approach to the determination of acoustic velocities, acoustic attenuation, and the equation of state in the diamond-anvil high-pressure cell. Measurement of the bulk modulus, density, and Gruneisen parameters of methanol and ethanol to pressures of 70 kbar. determination of the elastic constants of an orthorhombic crystal, and an investigation of hysteresis in the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus of silicate glass are reported. The adequacy of simple theories of the volume dependence of the modulus and Gruneisen parameters is considered, and a possible extension of the technique to the observation of the acoustic properties of metals at high pressure is discussed