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Boffins blow up water with LASERS, to watch explosions in slow-mo

Humanity needs to know more about how matter behaves in extreme conditions

Video Boffins at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford's PULSE institute have had fun blowing up water jets and droplets with an X-ray laser. For science, of course.

What they say they want is to study the microscopic movies to understand what happens when liquids are vaporized by the world's brightest X-ray laser.

For example, says PULSE's Claudiu Stan, “Understanding the dynamics of these explosions will allow us to avoid their unwanted effects on samples … It could also help us find new ways of using explosions caused by X-rays to trigger changes in samples and study matter under extreme conditions.”

The group published their work in Nature Physics, and say it shows “how the explosive interaction unfolds and provides clues as to how it could affect X-ray laser experiments”.

To catch what was happening to the droplets and streams, the group also had to design the imaging system based on an ultrafast optical laser that strobe-illuminates the explosion. The images were taken using a high-resolution microscope built to work in the vacuum chamber where the X-ray laser operates.

The result was a mathematical model describing the explosive behaviour, based on pulse energy, drop size, and jet diameter.

Why don't we stop talking, and let your watch the video (and enjoy the Kubrick-like choice of music)? ®

Youtube Video

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