Development of a laser-driven shock compression platform for time-resolved XRD experiments at the ID09 beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

ABSTRACT

We present a newly developed laser-driven shock compression platform at the ID09 beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). This platform combines a custom high-power EKSPLA laser with ESRF's high-energy X-ray pulses to perform in situ, time-resolved X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements in materials under well characterized, moderate pressure (up to 1 Mbar) and short-duration shock waves. Its purpose is to serve as a shock driver to study materials under dynamic pressure, focusing on phase transitions in condensed matter. We provide a detailed description of this platform's design and functionalities, along with preliminary experimental results obtained from iron and tin samples subjected to shock compression. These results not only demonstrate the platform's ability to acquire high-quality X-ray diffraction data but also highlight its potential for advancing research in material science and high-energy-density physics.

KEYWORDS:

• Dynamic compression
• time-resolved X-ray diffraction
• synchrotron radiation
• X-ray
• shock
• laser

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities on beamline ID09, during beam time allocated to the long term proposal HC-4528. The authors extend their sincere gratitude to the ESRF Sample Environment Support team, including J. Frey, R. Garlet, B. Richer, and Y. Waiter, for their invaluable contributions to the design and fabrication of the vacuum chamber. We sincerely thank N. Bruzy, E. Barraud, and R. Lemaire for the scanning electron microscope analysis of the samples.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.