Jie Li
University of Michigan, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Extreme pressure, like that deep inside Earth and other planets, can rearrange atoms into new crystal structures and change how materials behave. Jie Li's projects use diamond anvil cells, devices that squeeze tiny samples between two diamonds, often while heating them with lasers.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Materials Science
Physics
- Topics
mineral physics
high pressure
diamond anvil cell
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Synthesize Ruddlesden-Popper iridates (Srn+1IrnO3n+1) under high pressure and temperature, with chemical doping, to search for exotic magnetism, Mott insulating states and possible superconductivity, guided by Dynamic Mean Field Theory.
- Determine whether shifts in the wadsleyite-to-ringwoodite phase boundary seen in thin films are reproduced in dry Mg2SiO4 films grown by pulsed laser deposition.
- Map Mg2SiO4 thin-film phase boundaries over 0.1–30 GPa and 300–2300 K in diamond anvil cells, using synchrotron X-ray diffraction or Raman spectroscopy, to test whether stress or grain size can explain deep-focus earthquakes.
- Measure ferric-to-ferrous iron ratios in peridotite glass pressed to 140 GPa and 6000 K in laser-heated diamond anvil cells, using synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy, to model magma-ocean oxidation of rocky planet mantles.
More about the research
These experiments recreate deep-planet conditions and create new materials. The work spans three questions. What causes earthquakes hundreds of kilometers deep? How did Earth's mantle become oxidized enough to support a habitable planet? What new quantum states appear in iridium oxides under pressure? All three are collaborative projects.
Why it matters
Explaining deep-focus earthquakes could improve understanding of subduction zones. A model of mantle oxidation could help astronomers judge which rocky exoplanets might become habitable. Finding new quantum states in iridates could point to materials with unusual magnetic or electronic properties for future technologies. The thin-film approach could also launch a new way to test materials under extreme, controlled stress.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: DMR-TMRP: Unlocking New Phases under High Pressure in Ruddlesden-Popper Iridates
NSF · Sep 2024 – Aug 2027
Collaborative Research: Thin Film Insights into Phase Transformations and Deep-Focus Earthquakes
NSF · Aug 2024 – Jul 2027
Collaborative Research: GLOW: Iron Redox Reactions in Magma Oceans and Differentiation of Rocky Planets
NSF · Aug 2023 – Jul 2027
Closest labs
Jason Nicholas
Michigan State University, MI·Materials Science
Test whether the previously observed shift in the wadsleyite-to-ringwoodite transformation can be reproduced in anhydrous Mg2SiO4 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition, using diamond anvil cells with synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy.
Susannah Dorfman
Michigan State University, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Measure the sodium content of ferropericlase, (Mg,Fe)O, under sodium-saturated lower-mantle conditions, using laser-heated diamond anvil cells that reproduce deep-Earth pressures and temperatures.
Jian Liu
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, TN·Physics·Early-career
Grow atomically thin iridium oxide layers by in-situ-monitored pulsed-laser deposition, designed so that spin-orbit coupling tilts the spins while overall spin symmetry is kept.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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