X-ray laser opens up new avenues of research in material
science
(June 18, 2015) Researchers
have used ultra-short pulses of X-rays to film shock waves in diamonds. The
study headed by DESY scientists opens up new possibilities for studying the
properties of materials. Thanks to the extremely bright and short X-ray
flashes, the researchers were able to follow the rapid, dynamic changes taking
place in the shock wave with a high spatial as well as a high temporal
resolution. The team around DESY physicist Prof. Christian Schroer is
presenting its results in the journal Scientific Reports. “With our experiment
we are venturing into new scientific terrain,” says the first author of the
scientific paper, Dr. Andreas Schropp of DESY. “We have managed for the first
time to use X-ray imaging to quantitatively determine the local properties and the
dynamic changes of matter under extreme conditions.”