Materials response to high pressures

There are many fascinating areas of research related to the response of materials at high static and dynamic pressures. The experimental range of compression achievable in the condensed state under pressure is much larger than the range of expansion achievable before melting by variation of temperature. The advances in the experimental techniques have been matched by the developments in the first principles theories and in computational resources. Studies of equation of state and of phase transitions in materials have helped to increase our basic understanding of the condensed state of matter, with possible applications in many fields, including nuclear technology. The current status of high pressure research is briefly reviewed, taking examples mainly from the work of our group at Trombay. (author)