Dean Smith

Designing novel X-ray and optical experiments at extreme high pressure in the diamond anvil cell

Biography

Dean joined the High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT, X-ray Science Division) team in June of 2024. He previously worked for 2 years at HPCAT (2019–2021), before spending 2½ years (2021–2024) at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) as a member of the Nevada Extreme Conditions Laboratory.

During a postdoctoral position at UNLV (2016–2019), Dean entered a collaboration with HPCAT scientists developing instruments at the beamline to focus mid-infrared light from a CO₂ laser into diamond anvil high-pressure cells (DACs) for X-ray diffraction (XRD) and absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Respectively, these instruments allow in situ measurements on the structure and bonding of materials such as minerals, ceramics, and molecular solids at combined extreme high pressures and temperatures.

As a scientist at HPCAT, Dean is concerned with the further development of these and other optical instruments for the DAC — both on- and off-line — to facilitate the next generation of measurements at extreme conditions.

Education

Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV, USA), 2016–2019
PhD Physics, University of Salford (Manchester, UK), 2016
MPhys Physics with Nanotechnology, The University of Hull (Hull, UK), 2012

Community Engagement

Memberships

Member, Institute of Physics (UK)
Member, American Physical Society
Member, American Chemical Society

Conferences & workshops

International advisory committee; 62^nd European High Pressure Research Group Meeting (2025); Manchester, UK
Organising chair; Shining Light on Matter at Extremes (2023); Las Vegas, NV, USA
Chair; Gordon Research Seminar on Research at High Pressure (2022, originally 2020); Holderness, NH, USA

Selected Publications

B R Nebgen, V C Lee, J A Spies, R M Sterbentz, C P Schwartz, D Smith, D Y Qiu, & M W Zuerch,* Isostructural electronic transition in MoS₂ probed by solid-state high-harmonic generation spectroscopy, Science Advances 12, eadz5621 (2026)
C Childs,* D Smith,* G A Smith, P Ellison, D Sneed, J Hinton, E Siska, J S Pigott, E Rod, W O’Donnell, R Salem, B Sturtevant, R J Scharff, N Velisavljevic, C Park, & A Salamat,* CO₂ laser heating system for in situ radial x-ray absorption at 16-BM-D at the Advanced Photon Source, Review of Scientific Instruments 93, 083901 (2022)
D Smith,* D P Shelton, P B Ellison, & A Salamat,* Simple imaging for the diamond anvil cell: Applications to hard-to-reach places, Review of Scientific Instruments 89, 103902 (2018)
D Smith,* J S Smith,* C Childs, E Rod, R Hrubiak, G Shen, & A Salamat,* A CO₂ laser heating system for in situ high pressure-temperature experiments at HPCAT, Review of Scientific Instruments 89, 083901 (2018)
D Smith, K Lawler, M Martinez-Canales, A Daykin, Z Fussell, G A Smith, C Childs, J S Smith, C J Pickard, & A Salamat,* Postaragonite phases of CaCO₃ at lower mantle pressures, Physical Review Materials 2, 013605 (2018)

A full list of publications can be found on Google Scholar or ORCiD.