Jadeite, NaAlSi2O6, is a rare, but geologically important clinopyroxene. In the upper part of the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle most pyroxenes are transformed into garnet-structured minerals. However, the Na ion in jadeite is incompatible with the formation of garnet, hence jadeite is thought to persist to depths of ~550 km. Jadeite is thus a high-pressure pyroxene, capable of forming a major component of subducting slabs and thereby encountering some of the largest thermal gradients on our planet. In order to understand the dynamics of subduction it is important to know the response that jadeite has to high temperature conditions. In addition, pyroxenes are potentially of commercial value as multiferroics; although jadeite itself is not a multiferroic, we need to understand its behaviour so as to further our knowledge of pyroxenes in general.