Kang, J. and Shalloo, R.J. and Higgins, M.J. and Dann, S.J.D. and Gruse, J.-N. and Underwood, C.I.D. and Antoine, A.F. and Arran, C. and Baird, C.D. and Balcazar, M.D. and Bourgeois, N. and Cardarelli, J.A. and Krushelnick, K. and Mangles, S.P.D. and Murphy, C.D. and Lu, N. and Rajeev, P.P. and Selwood, M.P. and Symes, D.R. and Ridgers, C.P. and Thomas, A.G.R. and Thornton, C. and Najmudin, Z. and Sanders, P.G. and Staublin, P.D. and Shahani, A.J. and Streeter, M.J.V. (2025) Imaging of dynamic processes in materials with a laser-wakefield accelerator. Physical Review Applied, 24 (6): 064013. ISSN 2331-7019
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Betatron x rays generated from laser-wakefield accelerators are a promising source for imaging dynamic processes in materials. Here, we present proof-of-concept imaging of microstructural evolution in a hypermonotectic Al-Bi alloy, which consists of liquid Bi particles in a solid Al matrix. The images capture the elongation and fragmentation of Bi particles upon isothermal annealing. Because of the femtosecond time scale of the betatron source, the images are not subject to motion blur, whereas the accessibility of the source allows for studies of long-term processes such as annealing. The high-resolution data reveal that the evolution of Bi particles is mediated by an interplay of grain-boundary wetting and morphological instability, in stark contrast to an earlier proposal for (inverse) coarsening.