The shock-induced transition from graphite to diamond has been of great scientific and technological interest since the discovery of microscopic diamonds in remnants of explosively driven graphite. Furthermore, shock synthesis of diamond and lonsdaleite, a speculative hexagonal carbon polymorph with unique hardness, is expected to happen during violent meteor impacts. Here, we show unprecedented in situ X-ray diffraction measurements of diamond formation on nanosecond timescales by shock compression of pyrolytic as well as polycrystalline graphite to pressures from 19 GPa up to 228 GPa. While we observe the transition to diamond starting at 50 GPa for both pyrolytic and polycrystalline graphite, we also record the direct formation of lonsdaleite above 170 GPa for pyrolytic samples only. Our experiment provides new insights into the processes of the shock-induced transition from graphite to diamond and uniquely resolves the dynamics that explain the main natural occurrence of the lonsdaleite crystal structure being close to meteor impact sites.

A series of Omega experiments have produced and characterized high velocity counter-streaming plasma flows relevant for the creation of collisionless shocks. Single and double CH2 foils have been irradiated with a laser intensity of ∼10 16 W/cm 2 . The laser ablated plasma was characterized 4 mm from the foil surface using Thomson scattering. A peak plasma flow velocity of 2,000 km/s, an electron temperature of ∼110 eV, an ion temperature of ∼30 eV, and a density of ∼10 18 cm −3 were measured in the single foil configuration. Significant increases in electron and ion temperatures were seen in the double foil geometry. The measured single foil plasma conditions were used to calculate the ion skin depth, c/ωpi ∼0.16 mm, the interaction length, int, of ∼8 mm, and the Coulomb mean free path, λ mf p ∼27 mm. With c/ωpi int < λ mf p we are in a regime where collisionless shock formation is possible.

Self-organization 1,2 occurs in plasmas when energy progressively transfers from smaller to larger scales in an inverse cascade 3 . Global structures that emerge from turbulent plasmas can be found in the laboratory 4 and in astrophysical settings; for example, the cosmic magnetic field 5,6 , collisionless shocks in supernova remnants 7 and the internal structures of newly formed stars known as Herbig-Haro objects 8 . Here we show that large, stable electromagnetic field structures can also arise within counter-streaming supersonic plasmas in the laboratory. These surprising structures, formed by a yet unexplained mechanism, are predominantly oriented transverse to the primary flow direction, extend for much larger distances than the intrinsic plasma spatial scales and persist for much longer than the plasma kinetic timescales. Our results challenge existing models of counter-streaming plasmas and can be used to better understand large-scale and long-time plasma self-organization.Our experiments were performed at the OMEGA EP laser facility, where two kilojoule-class lasers irradiated two polyethylene (CH 2 ) plastic discs that faced each other at a distance of 8 mm, creating a system of high-velocity laser-ablated counter-streaming plasma flows. The experimental details are described in Fig. 1 and in the Methods. At early times, up to at least 8 ns, intra-jet ion collisions are known to be strong (owing to relatively low-particle thermal velocities) but inter-jet ion collisions are rare (owing to relatively high flow velocities), permitting the evolution of both hydrodynamic and collisionless plasma instabilities 9,10 (Table 1). We visualized the electric and magnetic field structures in the counter-streaming plasmas with short-pulse laser-generated proton beam imaging 11,12 , taken from two orthogonal views to evaluate the possible azimuthal symmetry of the field structures. After roughly 3 ns, caustics (large-intensity variations 13 ) in the proton images indicate the formation of strong field zones within the plasma, probably due to sharp structures with strong gradients, as reported elsewhere 14 . By 4 ns, the features have changed markedly into two large swaths of straight transverse caustics that extend for up to 5 mm. This extent is large compared with the fundamental scale lengths of the plasma (Table 1) such as the Debye length (50,000 times larger) and the ion inertial length (nearly 100 times larger), indicating a high degree of self-organization. This organization

Coherent x-ray diffractive imaging is a powerful method for studies on nonperiodic structures on the nanoscale. Access to femtosecond dynamics in major physical, chemical, and biological processes requires single-shot diffraction data. Up to now, this has been limited to intense coherent pulses from a free electron laser. Here we show that laser-driven ultrashort x-ray sources offer a comparatively inexpensive alternative. We present measurements of single-shot diffraction patterns from isolated nano-objects with a single 20 fs pulse from a table-top high-harmonic x-ray laser. Images were reconstructed with a resolution of 119 nm from the single shot and 62 nm from multiple shots.

The standard model for the origin of galactic magnetic fields is through the amplification of seed fields via dynamo or turbulent processes to the level consistent with present observations. Although other mechanisms may also operate, currents from misaligned pressure and temperature gradients (the Biermann battery process) inevitably accompany the formation of galaxies in the absence of a primordial field. Driven by geometrical asymmetries in shocks associated with the collapse of protogalactic structures, the Biermann battery is believed to generate tiny seed fields to a level of about 10(-21) gauss (refs 7, 8). With the advent of high-power laser systems in the past two decades, a new area of research has opened in which, using simple scaling relations, astrophysical environments can effectively be reproduced in the laboratory. Here we report the results of an experiment that produced seed magnetic fields by the Biermann battery effect. We show that these results can be scaled to the intergalactic medium, where turbulence, acting on timescales of around 700 million years, can amplify the seed fields sufficiently to affect galaxy evolution.

In the last few years, high power lasers have demonstrated the possibility to explore a new state of matter, the so-called warm dense matter. Among the possible techniques utilized to generate this state, we present the dynamic compression technique using high power lasers. Applications to planetary cores material (iron) will be discussed. Finally new diagnostics such as proton and hard-x-ray radiography of a shock propagating in a solid target will be presented.

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The matter in extreme conditions end station at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a new tool enabling accurate pump–probe measurements for studying the physical properties of matter in the high-energy density (HED) physics regime. This instrument combines the world’s brightest x-ray source, the LCLS x-ray beam, with high-power lasers consisting of two nanosecond Nd:glass laser beams and one short-pulse Ti:sapphire laser. These lasers produce short-lived states of matter with high pressures, high temperatures or high densities with properties that are important for applications in nuclear fusion research, laboratory astrophysics and the development of intense radiation sources. In the first experiments, we have performed highly accurate x-ray diffraction and x-ray Thomson scattering measurements on shock-compressed matter resolving the transition from compressed solid matter to a co-existence regime and into the warm dense matter state. These complex charged-particle systems are dominated by strong correlations and quantum effects. They exist in planetary interiors and laboratory experiments, e.g., during high-power laser interactions with solids or the compression phase of inertial confinement fusion implosions. Applying record peak brightness x-rays resolves the ionic interactions at atomic (Ångstrom) scale lengths and measure the static structure factor, which is a key quantity for determining equation of state data and important transport coefficients. Simultaneously, spectrally resolved measurements of plasmon features provide dynamic structure factor information that yield temperature and density with unprecedented precision at micron-scale resolution in dynamic compression experiments. These studies have demonstrated our ability to measure fundamental thermodynamic properties that determine the state of matter in the HED physics regime.