Nanoscale Imaging of Structure and Dynamics Through Time-Resolved Hard X-Ray Diffraction Microscopy

The unique imaging power of nano-focused synchrotron hard x-rays can be harnessed to provide non-destructive methods for 3D visualization of crystallographic phase and strain in solid-state materials. This gives access to understanding extremely subtle lattice perturbations (<10^-4 dc/c) near optically active defects or interfaces within fabricated heterostructures that can be located potentially microns away from surfaces without sectioning the sample. The use of time-resolved coherent synchrotron illumination synchronized to external stimuli can further augment this approach to understand excitation-driven energy flow and dynamic structure-function relationships across broad classes of classical and quantum materials for energy. Current work and future directions enabled by the near-term completion of diffraction limited storage rings such as the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade (APSU) and correlative data synthesis with quantitative electron microscopy methods will be explored in the context of recent results.