European XFEL Science Seminar | Iron and iron alloys studies at XFEL for planetary science

by Marion Harmand (Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie, University of Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris)

Tuesday 2 May 2017, 16:45 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

E1.173 - Campus Schenefeld (European XFEL)

An accurate knowledge of the properties of iron and iron alloys at high pressures and temperatures is crucial for geophysics and planetary science. In particular, detailed information on melting curves and solid phases are required to anchor the Earth’s thermal profile at the Inner Core Boundary (ICB) and to assess the solid or liquid nature of exoplanets cores. In that context, XFEL sources coupled with high-energy lasers are affording unique opportunities to measure microscopic structural properties at extreme conditions. We present an overview of the recent studies devoted to investigate the solid-solid and solid-liquid transition in laser-shocked iron and iron alloys using both X-ray diffraction and X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy (XANES). Experiment were performed at the MEC end-station of the LCLS facility at SLAC (USA) as well as the EH5 end station of SACLA – Spring-8 facility (Japan). Associated technical developments such as target fabrication and single shot X-ray absorption spectroscopy will be presented.