Scientists Create a New Form of Ice at More Than 2000°C

Physicist Alexis Forestier’s team compressed water to 230 GPa between diamond tips and laser-heated it to 2,630 K, mimicking ice-giant interiors. X-ray diffraction showed a hexagonal close-packed ice phase becoming superionic near 1,700 K, and a mixed fcc-hcp signal at 155 GPa and 2,000 K, confirming a pressure-driven transition between superionic structures and validating the predicted hcp superionic ice.