Diamonds under pressure impersonate exoplanet cores

Laser compression may reveal complex physics inside massive alien planets

UNDER PRESSURE  Scientists focused lasers at the National Ignition Facility (experimental chamber shown), which doubled for the starship Enterprise’s warp engine in Star Trek Into Darkness, to squeeze diamond to the pressures found inside colossal exoplanets.

Matt Swisher

Researchers have squeezed diamonds to a record-setting pressure — 14 times as high as that inside Earth’s core.