Tag: HED

Accurate temperature snapshots

Accurate temperature snapshots

The first high energy density experiments pave way for future research

What does it take to accurately measure the temperature of a material which remains in a stable condition for just a fleeting nanosecond (one millionth of a second)? Consider using the high energy density (HED) instrument at European XFEL. And this is what an international team of researchers, with lead researchers from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, US, Oxford University, UK, and European XFEL, have done. Establishing methods to accurately measure temperatures in rapidly-evolving, transient systems is important for diverse purposes such as developing materials for spacecraft thermal shields, which face extreme changes in temperature and pressure when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, or in the study of the interior of giant planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. 

Read more on the European XFEL website

Image: Ulf Zastrau, Group Leader HED at the Experiment Station. Copyright: Jan Scholzel

Super laser delivered to European XFEL

Super laser delivered to European XFEL

High Energy laser will enable study of exoplanet interiors.

A keenly awaited piece of high-tech equipment has been delivered to European XFEL. The high repetition rate, high-energy laser, DiPOLE 100-X, was developed in the UK by scientists and engineers at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility (CFL) as part of the UK contribution to the facility. This unique laser, developed within the framework of the HiBEF user consortium, will be used at the instrument for High-Energy Density (HED) science at European XFEL to generate extreme temperatures and pressures in materials. The atomic structure and dynamics of these extreme states of materials can then be studied using the extremely bright and intense X-ray pulses produced by the European XFEL. This experimental set-up will enable scientists to create conditions similar to the interior of exoplanets with temperatures of up to 10,000°C, and pressures of up to 10,000 tons per square centimeter – similar to the weight of 2000 adult elephants concentrated onto the surface of a postage stamp!

>Read more on the European XFEL website

Image: The HED instrument at European XFEL.
Credit: European XFEL/Jan Hosan

All six European XFEL instruments now operational

All six European XFEL instruments now operational

User experiments started at instrument for High Energy Density.

The first experiments have now started at the instrument for High Energy Density (HED) experiments. HED is the sixth and thereby last instrument of European XFEL’s current design configuration to start user operation. With six instruments on three SASE beamlines operational, European XFEL now has the capacity to host three times as many user experiments as compared to when operation began in 2017.
HED combines hard X-ray FEL radiation and the capability to generate matter under extreme conditions of pressure, temperature or electric field. HED will be used for studies of matter occurring inside exoplanets, of new extreme-pressure phases and solid-density plasmas, and of structural phase transitions of complex solids in high magnetic fields. The HED instrument is built in close collaboration with the HiBEF consortium led by Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).
Next operation goals involve further increasing the capabilities and experiment portfolio of the instruments, increasing the amount of beamtime available for users at the six instruments and achieving successful parallel user operation of all three SASE beamlines. Parallel user operation is expected to start later this year.

>Read more on the European XFEL website

Image: The first users at the HED instrument.
Credit: European XFEL