Matter in Extreme Conditions

RSS Feed

November 16, 2017

News Feature

Scientists Make First Observations of How a Meteor-Like Shock Turns Silica Into Glass

Research with SLAC’s X-ray laser simulates what happens when a meteor hits Earth’s crust. The results suggest that scientists studying impact sites have been overestimating the sizes of the meteors that made them.

November 13, 2017

News Feature

SLAC X-ray Laser Reveals How Extreme Shocks Deform a Metal’s Atomic Structure

A new way to observe this deformation as it happens can help study a wide range of phenomena, from meteor impacts to high-performance ceramics used in armor, as well as how to protect spacecraft from high-speed dust impacts.

Image depicting an experiment at LCLS that shocks a tantalum sample

August 21, 2017

Press Release

Scientists Create ‘Diamond Rain’ That Forms in the Interior of Icy Giant Planets

SLAC’s X-ray laser and Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allow researchers to examine the exotic precipitation in real time as it materializes in the laboratory.

A cutaway depicts the interior of Neptune (right) and an illustration of diamond rain (left)

August 15, 2017

News Feature

Newly Upgraded Laser Allows Scientists to Peer Further Into the Extreme Universe at SLAC’s LCLS

Tripling the energy and refining the shape of optical laser pulses at LCLS’s Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allows researchers to recreate higher-pressure conditions and explore unsolved questions relevant to fusion energy, plasma physics and materials science.