Single ultrafast x-ray pulse imaging and diffraction of mesoscale shockwave dynamics

The revolution in accelerator based x-ray sources known as x-ray free electron lasers are drastically changing the way we understand materials, especially in extreme conditions. With the intense, ultrafast, and coherent x-ray pulses provided by these new sources, we are now able to probe inside materials under extreme conditions at unprecedented temporal and spatial resolutions. In this talk, I will review work on understanding materials strength, damage, and failure mechanisms under shock loading conditions using x-ray diffraction and coherent diffraction imaging at the world's first hard x-ray free electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source. We study materials in such condition as the effect of pore collapse in the high explosive PETN and Richtmyer–Meshkov Instabilities off of copper samples that have been shocked by a high energy laser.