Search

Pressure, together with temperature, composition, or external fields, alone or in combination, can be used as principal variables in directing and controlling matter as well as for the synthesis of revolutionary new materials. The impact of extreme conditions to science, however, has been previously limited by the available vessels and probes. The last decade has witnessed a significant surge in extreme conditions science, thanks to the development of in situ synchrotron radiation (SR) probes and high-pressure (HP) instrumentation. Extreme conditions directly alter chemical, structural, mechanical, electronic, magnetic, and phonon properties of materials, revealing intriguing behaviors across boundaries between insulators and metals, ferromagnets and superconductors, ordered and disordered, and vigorously reactive and inert compounds. In Earth and planetary sciences, research from simulating experiments at high pressure and high temperature provides key information in understanding processes, dynamics, and formation of the deep interiors. For materials applications such as the search for new energy materials and superhard materials, extreme conditions remain a vast, unexplored field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports that a group from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan directly measured the transient strain in an ultrafast laser-excited germanium single crystal using time-resolved X-ray anomalous transmission at the MHATT/XOR sector 7-ID undulator beamline. Scientific research in the time domain using the pulsed structure of the X-ray beams from a third-generation synchrotron source, such as the Advanced Photon Source has become a major interest among synchrotron users. The traditional materials science, chemistry, and biology communities are getting an early glimpse of the potential impact of fast time-resolved X-ray studies. Technically, the turn-key-type femtosecond optical lasers with high peak power, used as pumps in many X-ray pump-probe experiments, have only recently become available.

Highlights the workshop on inelastic x-ray scattering, held on May 4-6, 2004 at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois. Purpose of the workshop; Keynote speakers; Topics discussed.