Probing shock compression phenomena using X-ray imaging at beamline ID19 of the European Synchrotron ESRF

Impact experiments are a long-standing technique employed to investigate the response of materials under extreme conditions. Recent advances in synchrotron sources, diagnostics, and loading platforms, have facilitated the coupling of exquisite X-ray diagnostics to dynamic loading platforms to study shock compression phenomena in-situ, the Dynamic Compression Sector at APS being a notable dedicated example. This talk will describe the development of a complementary capability, employing a single-stage gas-gun on the ID19 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The large beam size of the ID19 beamline, coupled with the relatively high energy source, enables the exploitation of single-bunch polychromatic hard X-ray phase contrast imaging to study dynamic phenomena at the cm length scale and frame-rates up to 5.68 MHz. The multiplex indirect imaging detector together with several recent experimental highlights exploiting the large-beam size to investigate phenomena such as jet-formation, material strength and failure will be discussed. This talk will also address current technical challenges and future directions for integrating synchrotron-based diagnostics with high-strain-rate experiments.