title: Ultrafast transitions from solid to liquid and plasma states of graphite induced by x-ray free-electron laser pulses.
abstract: We used photon pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser to study ultrafast x-ray-induced transitions of graphite from solid to liquid and plasma states. This was accomplished by isochoric heating of graphite samples and simultaneous probing via Bragg and diffuse scattering at high time resolution. We observe that disintegration of the crystal lattice and ion heating of up to 5 eV occur within tens of femtoseconds. The threshold fluence for Bragg-peak degradation is smaller and the ion-heating rate is faster than current x-ray-matter interaction models predict.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hau-Riege
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Graf
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Döppner
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: London
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krzywinski
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fortmann
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Glenzer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sokolowski-Tinten
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Messerschmidt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bostedt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schorb
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lutman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rolles
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rudenko
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rudek