Ultrafast x-ray diffraction of laser-irradiated crystals

Abstract

An apparatus has been developed for measuring time-dependent x-ray diffraction. X-ray pulses from an Advanced Light Source bend magnet are diffracted by a sagittally-focusing Si (111) crystal and then by a sample crystal, presently InSb (111). Laser pulses with 100 fs duration and a repetition rate of 1 KHz irradiate the sample inducing a phase transition. Two types of detectors are being employed: an x-ray streak camera and an avalanche photodiode. The streak camera is driven by a photoconductive switch and has a 2 ps temporal resolution determined by trigger jitter. The avalanche photodiode has high quantum efficiency and sufficient time resolution to detect single x-ray pulses in ALS two bunch or ‘camshaft’ operation. A beamline is under construction dedicated for time resolved and micro-diffraction experiments. In the new beamline a toroidal mirror collects 3 mrad horizontally and makes a 1:1 image of the bend magnet source in the x-ray hutch. A laser induced phase transition has been observed in InSb occurring within 70 ps.