High Energy Density Science at the Linac Coherent Light Source

Abstract

High energy density science (HEDS), as a discipline that has developed in the United States from National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA)-sponsored laboratory research programs, is, and will remain, a major component of the NNSA science and technology strategy. Its scientific borders are not restricted to NNSA. 'Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics: The X-Games of Contemporary Science' identified numerous exciting scientific opportunities in this field, while pointing to the need for a overarching interagency plan for its evolution. Meanwhile, construction of the first x-ray free-electron laser, the Office-of-Science-funded Linear Coherent Light Source-LCLS: the world's first free electron x-ray laser, with 100-fsec time resolution, tunable x-ray energies, a high rep rate, and a 10 order-of-magnitude increase in brightness over any other x-ray source--led to the realization that the scientific needs of NNSA and the broader scientific community could be well served by an LCLS HEDS endstation employing both short-pulse and high-energy optical lasers. Development of this concept has been well received in the community. NNSA requested a workshop on the applicability of LCLS to its needs. 'High Energy Density Science at the LCLS: NNSA Defense Programs Mission Need' was held in December 2006. The workshop provided strong support for the relevance of the endstation to NNSA strategic requirements. The range of science that was addressed covered a wide swath of the vast HEDS phase space. The unique possibilities provided by the LCLS in areas of intense interest to NNSA Defense Programs were discussed. The areas of focus included warm dense matter and equations of state, hot dense matter, and behavior of high-pressure materials under conditions of high strain-rate and extreme dynamic loading. Development of new and advanced diagnostic techniques was also addressed. This report lays out the relevant science, as brief summaries (Ch. II), expanded descriptions (Ch. V), and a more detailed plans for experiments (Ch. VI), highlighting the uniqueness the HEDS endstation will play in providing mission-relevant HED data and in the development of the field. One of the more exciting aspects of NNSA-relevant experiments on LCLS is that, given the extraordinary investment and consequent advances in accurate atomic-scale simulations of matter (to a large extent via the Accelerated Scientific Computing program sponsored by NNSA), the facility will provide a platform that, for the first time, will permit experiments in the regimes of interest at the time and spatial scales of the simulations. In Chapter III, the report places the potential of LCLS with an HED science endstation in the context of science required by NNSA, as well as explicating the relationship of NNSA and HED science in general. Chapter IV discusses 4th-generation light sources, like LCLS, in the context of other laboratory technologies presently utilized by NNSA. The report concludes, noting that an HED endstation on LCLS can provide access to data in regimes that are relevant to NNSA needs but no mechanism exists for providing such data. The endstation will also serve to build a broad-based community in the 'X-Games' of physics. The science generated by the facility will be a collaboration of NNSA-based laboratory scientists and university-based researchers. The LCLS endstation fulfills the need for an intermediate-scale facility capable of delivering fundamental advances and mission-relevant research in high energy density science.