-
A Momentum-Resolved X-ray Thomson Scattering Benchmark of Electronic-Response Models in Warm Dense Aluminium
Authors:
Dmitrii S. Bespalov,
Ulf Zastrau,
Zhandos A. Moldabekov,
Thomas Gawne,
Tobias Dornheim,
Moyassar Meshhal,
Alexis Amouretti,
Michal Andrzejewski,
Karen Appel,
Carsten Baehtz,
Erik Brambrink,
Khachiwan Buakor,
Carolina Camarda,
David Chin,
Gilbert Collins,
Céline Crépeisson,
Adrien Descamps,
Jon Eggert,
Luke Fletcher,
Alessandro Forte,
Gianluca Gregori,
Marion Harmand,
Oliver S. Humphries,
Hauke Höppner,
Jonas Kuhlke
, et al. (36 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The robust diagnosis of conditions generated in warm dense matter (WDM) experiments remains a persistent challenge. Here we describe the measurement of shock-compressed aluminium at 50 GPa with angle-resolved femtosecond x-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) over a wide range of scattering wavevectors at the European XFEL. The measured plasmon dispersion and line shape show that the de facto standard ap…
▽ More
The robust diagnosis of conditions generated in warm dense matter (WDM) experiments remains a persistent challenge. Here we describe the measurement of shock-compressed aluminium at 50 GPa with angle-resolved femtosecond x-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) over a wide range of scattering wavevectors at the European XFEL. The measured plasmon dispersion and line shape show that the de facto standard approach for analysing XRTS spectra, based on uniform-electron-gas models, systematically overestimates the resonance energy by up to 8 eV. We present an ab initio approach that agrees within the experimental uncertainty and demonstrates that accounting for shock-induced disorder is critical for interpreting shock-compressed systems, providing evidence that ab initio treatments are required for reliable XRTS inference in warm dense aluminium.
△ Less
Submitted 6 May, 2026; v1 submitted 12 September, 2025;
originally announced September 2025.
-
Probing ultrafast heating and ionization dynamics in solid density plasmas with time-resolved resonant X-ray absorption and emission
Authors:
Lingen Huang,
Mikhail Mishchenko,
Michal Šmíd,
Oliver Humphries,
Thomas R. Preston,
Xiayun Pan,
Long Yang,
Johannes Hagemann,
Thea Engler,
Yangzhe Cui,
Thomas Kluge,
Carsten Baehtz,
Erik Brambrink,
Alejandro Laso Garcia,
Sebastian Göde,
Christian Gutt,
Mohamed Hassan,
Hauke Höppner,
Michaela Kozlova,
Josefine Metzkes-Ng,
Masruri Masruri,
Motoaki Nakatsutsumi,
Masato Ota,
Özgül Öztürk,
Alexander Pelka
, et al. (12 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Heating and ionization are among the most fundamental processes in relativistic laser--solid interactions; however, their spatiotemporal evolution remains challenging to capture experimentally. Here we present detailed diagnosis of high-intensity laser interactions with wire targets, leveraging the extreme spectral brightness of an X-ray free-electron laser in sub-picosecond time-resolved resonant…
▽ More
Heating and ionization are among the most fundamental processes in relativistic laser--solid interactions; however, their spatiotemporal evolution remains challenging to capture experimentally. Here we present detailed diagnosis of high-intensity laser interactions with wire targets, leveraging the extreme spectral brightness of an X-ray free-electron laser in sub-picosecond time-resolved resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy and absorption imaging. Experimental results are compared with comprehensive simulations using atomic collisional--radiative models, particle-in-cell, and magnetohydrodynamics codes to elucidate the underlying physics. These multi-scale simulations reveal extreme sensitivity of basic plasma parameters with widely used models, such as temperature and ionization depth, which are able to be constrained by incorporating a detailed accounting of laser spatial profiles, pre-plasma conditions, and collisional processes. These results provide new insights into heating and ionization dynamics in the high-energy-density regime relevant to inertial fusion energy research, both as an experimental platform for accessing theoretically challenging conditions and as a benchmark for improving models of high-power laser--plasma interactions.
△ Less
Submitted 1 April, 2026; v1 submitted 14 August, 2025;
originally announced August 2025.
-
X-ray thermal diffuse scattering as a texture-robust temperature diagnostic for dynamically compressed solids
Authors:
P. G. Heighway,
D. J. Peake,
T. Stevens,
J. S. Wark,
B. Albertazzi,
S. J. Ali,
L. Antonelli,
M. R. Armstrong,
C. Baehtz,
O. B. Ball,
S. Banerjee,
A. B. Belonoshko,
C. A. Bolme,
V. Bouffetier,
R. Briggs,
K. Buakor,
T. Butcher,
S. Di Dio Cafiso,
V. Cerantola,
J. Chantel,
A. Di Cicco,
A. L. Coleman,
J. Collier,
G. Collins,
A. J. Comley
, et al. (97 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We present a model of x-ray thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) from a cubic polycrystal with an arbitrary crystallographic texture, based on the classic approach of Warren. We compare the predictions of our model with femtosecond x-ray diffraction patterns obtained from ambient and dynamically compressed rolled copper foils obtained at the High Energy Density (HED) instrument of the European X-Ray F…
▽ More
We present a model of x-ray thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) from a cubic polycrystal with an arbitrary crystallographic texture, based on the classic approach of Warren. We compare the predictions of our model with femtosecond x-ray diffraction patterns obtained from ambient and dynamically compressed rolled copper foils obtained at the High Energy Density (HED) instrument of the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL), and find that the texture-aware TDS model yields more accurate results than does the conventional powder model owed to Warren. Nevertheless, we further show that: with sufficient angular detector coverage, the TDS signal is largely unchanged by sample orientation and in all cases strongly resembles the signal from a perfectly random powder; shot-to-shot fluctuations in the TDS signal resulting from grain-sampling statistics are at the percent level, in stark contrast to the fluctuations in the Bragg-peak intensities (which are over an order of magnitude greater); and TDS is largely unchanged even following texture evolution caused by compression-induced plastic deformation. We conclude that TDS is robust against texture variation, making it a flexible temperature diagnostic applicable just as well to off-the-shelf commercial foils as to ideal powders.
△ Less
Submitted 6 August, 2025;
originally announced August 2025.
-
Demonstration of full-scale spatio-temporal diagnostics of solid-density plasmas driven by an ultra-short relativistic laser pulse using an X-ray free-electron laser
Authors:
Lingen Huang,
Michal Šmíd,
Long Yang,
Oliver Humphries,
Johannes Hagemann,
Thea Engler,
Xiayun Pan,
Yangzhe Cui,
Thomas Kluge,
Ritz Aguilar,
Carsten Baehtz,
Erik Brambrink,
Engin Eren,
Katerina Falk,
Alejandro Laso Garcia,
Sebastian Göde,
Christian Gutt,
Mohamed Hassan,
Philipp Heuser,
Hauke Höppner,
Michaela Kozlova,
Wei Lu,
Josefine Metzkes-Ng,
Masruri Masruri,
Mikhail Mishchenko
, et al. (20 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Understanding the complex plasma dynamics in ultra-intense relativistic laser-solid interactions is of fundamental importance to the applications of laser plasma-based particle accelerators, creation of high energy-density matter, understanding of planetary science and laser-driven fusion energy. However, experimental efforts in this regime have been limited by the accessibility of over-critical d…
▽ More
Understanding the complex plasma dynamics in ultra-intense relativistic laser-solid interactions is of fundamental importance to the applications of laser plasma-based particle accelerators, creation of high energy-density matter, understanding of planetary science and laser-driven fusion energy. However, experimental efforts in this regime have been limited by the accessibility of over-critical density and spatio-temporal resolution of conventional diagnostics. Over the last decade, the advent of femtosecond brilliant hard X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) is opening new horizons to break these limitations. Here, for the first time we present full-scale spatio-temporal measurements of solid-density plasma dynamics, including preplasma generation with tens of nanometer-scale length driven by the leading edge of a relativistic laser pulse, ultrafast heating and ionization at the main pulse arrival, laser-driven blast shock waves and transient surface return current-induced compression dynamics up to hundreds of picoseconds after interaction. These observations are enabled by utilizing a novel combination of advanced X-ray diagnostics such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES), and propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) simultaneously at the European XFEL-HED beamline station.
△ Less
Submitted 9 May, 2025;
originally announced May 2025.
-
Femtosecond temperature measurements of laser-shocked copper deduced from the intensity of the x-ray thermal diffuse scattering
Authors:
J. S. Wark,
D. J. Peake,
T. Stevens,
P. G. Heighway,
Y. Ping,
P. Sterne,
B. Albertazzi,
S. J. Ali,
L. Antonelli,
M. R. Armstrong,
C. Baehtz,
O. B. Ball,
S. Banerjee,
A. B. Belonoshko,
C. A. Bolme,
V. Bouffetier,
R. Briggs,
K. Buakor,
T. Butcher,
S. Di Dio Cafiso,
V. Cerantola,
J. Chantel,
A. Di Cicco,
A. L. Coleman,
J. Collier
, et al. (100 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We present 50-fs, single-shot measurements of the x-ray thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) from copper foils that have been shocked via nanosecond laser-ablation up to pressures above 135~GPa. We hence deduce the x-ray Debye-Waller (DW) factor, providing a temperature measurement. The targets were laser-shocked with the DiPOLE 100-X laser at the High Energy Density (HED) endstation of the European X…
▽ More
We present 50-fs, single-shot measurements of the x-ray thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) from copper foils that have been shocked via nanosecond laser-ablation up to pressures above 135~GPa. We hence deduce the x-ray Debye-Waller (DW) factor, providing a temperature measurement. The targets were laser-shocked with the DiPOLE 100-X laser at the High Energy Density (HED) endstation of the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL). Single x-ray pulses, with a photon energy of 18 keV, were scattered from the samples and recorded on Varex detectors. Despite the targets being highly textured (as evinced by large variations in the elastic scattering), and with such texture changing upon compression, the absolute intensity of the azimuthally averaged inelastic TDS between the Bragg peaks is largely insensitive to these changes, and, allowing for both Compton scattering and the low-level scattering from a sacrificial ablator layer, provides a reliable measurement of $T/Θ_D^2$, where $Θ_D$ is the Debye temperature. We compare our results with the predictions of the SESAME 3336 and LEOS 290 equations of state for copper, and find good agreement within experimental errors. We thus demonstrate that single-shot temperature measurements of dynamically compressed materials can be made via thermal diffuse scattering of XFEL radation.
△ Less
Submitted 6 January, 2025;
originally announced January 2025.