Evidence for a glassy state in strongly driven carbon

C R D Brown; D O Gericke; M Cammarata; B I Cho; T Döppner; K Engelhorn; E Förster; C Fortmann; D Fritz; E Galtier; S H Glenzer; M Harmand; P Heimann; N L Kugland; D Q Lamb; H J Lee; R W Lee; H Lemke; M Makita; A Moinard; C D Murphy; B Nagler; P Neumayer; K-U Plagemann; R Redmer; D Riley; F B Rosmej; P Sperling; S Toleikis; S M Vinko; J Vorberger; S White; T G White; K Wünsch; U Zastrau; D Zhu; T Tschentscher; G Gregori

doi:10.1038/srep05214

Evidence for a glassy state in strongly driven carbon

Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 9:4:5214. doi: 10.1038/srep05214.

Authors

C R D Brown¹, D O Gericke², M Cammarata³, B I Cho⁴, T Döppner⁵, K Engelhorn⁶, E Förster⁷, C Fortmann⁵, D Fritz³, E Galtier⁸, S H Glenzer³, M Harmand⁹, P Heimann³, N L Kugland⁵, D Q Lamb¹⁰, H J Lee³, R W Lee⁶, H Lemke³, M Makita¹¹, A Moinard⁸, C D Murphy¹², B Nagler³, P Neumayer¹³, K-U Plagemann¹⁴, R Redmer¹⁴, D Riley¹¹, F B Rosmej⁸, P Sperling¹⁴, S Toleikis⁹, S M Vinko¹⁵, J Vorberger¹⁶, S White¹¹, T G White¹⁵, K Wünsch², U Zastrau¹⁷, D Zhu³, T Tschentscher¹⁸, G Gregori¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ 1] Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK [2] Plasma Physics Department, AWE plc., Aldermaston, Reading RG7 4PR, UK [3] Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
² Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁴ 1] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, California 94720, USA [2] Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 500-712, Korea [3] Center for Relativistic Laser Science, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Gwangju, 500-712, Korea.
⁵ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
⁶ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, California 94720, USA.
⁷ Helmholtz Institute Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany.
⁸ Sorbonne Universités, Pierre et Marie Curie, UPMC, UMR 7605, LULI, case 128, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
⁹ Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
¹¹ School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom.
¹² School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK.
¹³ GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
¹⁴ Institut für Physik, Universität Rostock, 18051 Rostock, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.
¹⁶ 1] Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK [2] Max-Planck-Institut für Physik Komplexer Systeme, 01187 Dresden, Germany.
¹⁷ 1] SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
¹⁸ European XFEL GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Ring 19, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
¹⁹ 1] Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK [2] Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Abstract

Here, we report results of an experiment creating a transient, highly correlated carbon state using a combination of optical and x-ray lasers. Scattered x-rays reveal a highly ordered state with an electrostatic energy significantly exceeding the thermal energy of the ions. Strong Coulomb forces are predicted to induce nucleation into a crystalline ion structure within a few picoseconds. However, we observe no evidence of such phase transition after several tens of picoseconds but strong indications for an over-correlated fluid state. The experiment suggests a much slower nucleation and points to an intermediate glassy state where the ions are frozen close to their original positions in the fluid.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't