XFEL Imaging Techniques for High Energy Density and Inertial Fusion Energy Research at HED-HiBEF

TL;DR

This paper presents an advanced XFEL-based imaging platform at HED-HiBEF, combining multiple lasers to study high energy density phenomena with sub-micrometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution, enabling new insights into fusion-related research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel imaging platform integrating XFEL with high-intensity lasers for high-resolution, time-resolved studies of extreme states of matter in fusion research.

Findings

Imaging of blast waves and shocks in aluminium

Resonant absorption measurements in copper

Planar shock experiments in polystyrene

Abstract

The imaging platform developed at the High Energy Density - Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HED-HiBEF) instrument at the European XFEL and its applications to high energy density and fusion related research are presented. The platform combines the XFEL beam with the high-intensity short-pulse laser ReLaX and the high-energy nanosecond-pulse laser DiPOLE-100X. The spatial resolution is better than 500 nm and the temporal resolution of the order of 50 fs. We show examples of blast waves and converging cylindrical shocks in aluminium, resonant absorption measurements of specific charged states in copper with ReLaX and planar shocks in polystyrene material generated by DiPOLE-100X. We also discuss the possibilities introduced by combining this imaging platform with a kJ-class laser.