Hurry up or take your time: kinetics of shock-driven phase transitions and dynamic x-ray diffraction.*

One of the unanswered questions in physics is how much time does a shock-driven phase transition need - i.e. its kinetics? And how does this time influence the end-result of the shock process?

Traditionally, phase transitions in dynamic compression are inferred from continuum data and compared to results from static compression experiments, shock-recovery, or calculations. With the development of time-resolved synchrotron dynamic x-ray diffraction (DXRD) combined with shock compression a new dawn is rising for the field of shock physics, as one can now probe atomic-scale changes in situ, with nanosecond resolution.

We will illustrate the atomic- and nanosecond-scale quantification of kinetics of shock-driven phase transitions in example materials. We will also show how we leverage two user facilities of the Advanced Photon Source: DCS and HPCAT, in synergistic dynamic/static compression experiments.