Measurements of ionic structure in shock compressed lithium hydride from ultrafast x-ray Thomson scattering

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Dec 11;103(24):245004. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.245004. Epub 2009 Dec 10.

Abstract

We present the first ultrafast temporally, spectrally, and angularly resolved x-ray scattering measurements from shock-compressed matter. The experimental spectra yield the absolute elastic and inelastic scattering intensities from the measured density of free electrons. Laser-compressed lithium-hydride samples are well characterized by inelastic Compton and plasmon scattering of a K-alpha x-ray probe providing independent measurements of temperature and density. The data show excellent agreement with the total intensity and structure when using the two-species form factor and accounting for the screening of ion-ion interactions.