A first publication for the project: shock compression experiments using the DiPOLE 100-X laser at the EuXFEL

The DiPOLE 100-X laser is a new facility capable of up to 10 Hz operation, irradiating a sample with up to 50 J of frequency doubled (515 nm) light in a ten nanosecond pulse. The laser pulse can be shaped to launch a ablatively driven shock compression into materials and compress the samples to high pressures and high temperature states. The facility is installed at the HED instrument of the European XFEL, and is coupled with the intense X-ray pulses delivered by the facility.

In May 2023, a team of over 100 researchers were involved in the very first experiment on the facility. Hot-Cores's PI S. Merkel was a leader for one of the four work-packages for the beamtime, lead by Malcom McMahon at the University of Edinburgh and Karen Appel of the EuXFEL, in which both HotCore's members Hélène Ginestet and Julien Chantel contributed substantially.

The publication of Martin Gorman on Shock compression experiments using the DiPOLE 100-X laser on the high energy density instrument at the European x-ray free electron laser: Quantitative structural analysis of liquid Sn is the first output of these campaigns. In this work, we show that the capabilities of the instrument enable liquid density measurements with an uncertainty of at conditions which are extremely challenging to reach via static compression methods, discuss best practices for conducting such experiments, and provide a polyimide ablation pressure vs input laser energy for the facilty. We will then be able to build upon this work to address the physical properties of matter under extreme states of pressures, temperatures, and strain rates.