High conductivity warm dense water excited by free-electron lasers

ORAL

Abstract

In this study, we measured the transient optical reflection and transmission of ultra-thin water sheet uniformly heated by 13.6 nm free-electron laser (FEL) approaching highly conducting states at electron temperatures exceeding 20,000 K. The experiment probes the trajectory of water through the high-energy density phase space and provides insights into the changes of the refractive index, charge carrier densities, and the electrical conductivity at optical frequencies. Significant specular reflection is observed due to the critical electron density shielding, indicating that the carrier electrons density is much higher than the FEL ionized electrons. At electron temperatures below 15,000 K, the experimental results agree well with the density-functional-theory molecular-dynamics simulations. With increasing temperature the electron system approaches a Fermi distribution. The conductivities agree better with predictions from the Ziman theory of liquid metals.

*This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Fusion Energy Science under FWP 100182. C. C. acknowledges partial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). J.D.K. and D.P.D. are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515. M. M. acknowledges partial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. M.F. and R.R. thank the Deutsche Forschungsemeinschaft (DFG) for support within the Research Unit FOR 2440. The work of S. L. was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) under the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program. C. R. acknowledges support from the LOEWE excellence initiative of the

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Publication: "Observation of a highly conductive warm dense state of water with ultrafast pump-probe free-electron-laser measurements", Z. Chen et al., accepted by Matter and Radiation at Extremes

Presenters

  • Zhijiang Chen

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Authors

  • Zhijiang Chen

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Xieyu Na

    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Chandra Breanne Curry

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Shujiang Liang

    • Stanford University
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Martin French

    • University of Rostock

  • Adrien Descamps

    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Daniel Deponte

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Jake Koralek

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Jongjin Kim

    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Shay Lebovitz

    • Northwestern University

  • Motoaki Nakatsutsumi

    • European X-FEL

  • Benjamin K Ofori-Okai

    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Ronald A Redmer

    • University of Rostock

  • Christian Roedel

    • Technical University Darmstadt

  • Maximilian Schörner

    • University of Rostock

  • Slawomir Skruszewicz

    • DESY

  • Philipp Sperling

    • University of Rostock

  • Sven Toleikis

    • DESY

  • Mianzhen Mo

    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Siegfried Glenzer

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Stanford University
    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab
    • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory