Ultrafast Time-Resolved Powder Diffraction Using Free-Electron Laser Radiation

Powder Diffraction offers the possibility to collect entire structural information from single profiles. This feature fits well with the possibility and requirement of x‐ray free‐electron laser sources to collect data on a single shot basis. The requirements for powder diffraction experiments using hard x‐ray free‐electron laser radiation are discussed in terms of bandwidth, x‐ray spot size and detector resolution. Time‐resolved measurements are proposed using ultrashort optical laser pulses to excite sample transformation on the 100 femtosecond time scale. Preliminary thoughts on energy absorption in the sample due to optical laser and x‐ray beam are discussed.