FY05 LDRD Final ReportTime-Resolved Dynamic Studies using Short Pulse X-Ray Radiation

Abstract

Established techniques must be extended down to the ps and sub-ps time domain to directly probe product states of materials under extreme conditions. We used short pulse (≤ 1 ps) x-ray radiation to track changes in the physical properties in tandem with measurements of the atomic and electronic structure of materials undergoing fast laser excitation and shock-related phenomena. The sources included those already available at LLNL, including the picosecond X-ray laser as well as the ALS Femtosecond Phenomena beamline and the SSRL based sub-picosecond photon source (SPPS). These allow the temporal resolution to be improved by 2 orders of magnitude over the current state-of-the-art, which is ~100 ps. Thus, we observed the manifestations of dynamical processes with unprecedented time resolution. Time-resolved x-ray photoemission spectroscopy and x-ray scattering were used to study phase changes in materials with sub-picosecond time resolution. These experiments coupled to multiscale modeling allow us to explore the physics of materials in high laser fields and extreme non-equilibrium states of matter. The ability to characterize the physical and electronic structure of materials under extreme conditions together with state-of-the-art models and computational facilities will catapult LLNL's core competencies into the scientific world arena as well as support its missions of national security and stockpile stewardship.