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Cerium oxide (ceria, CeO2) is frequently used as a standard in applications such as synchrotron and x-ray free electron lasers for calibrating x-ray wavelengths and offers the potential for understanding the high pressure properties and deformation mechanisms in a wide range of similar face centered cubic (fcc) materials. In this study, the pressure dependence of the strength of ceria was investigated up to 38 GPa using angle dispersive x-ray diffraction in a radial geometry in a diamond anvil cell. In this experiment, the difference in the stress along the axis of compression and perpendicular to the direction of compression can be determined, giving a quantity known as the differential stress. It was found that the differential stress (t), a measure of the lower bound for yield strength, initially increases rapidly from 0.35 ± 0.06 GPa to 2.2 ± 0.4 GPa at pressures of 1.8 and 3.8 GPa, respectively. Above 4 GPa, t increases more slowly to 13.8 ± 2.6 GPa at a pressure of 38 GPa. The changes in the preferred orientation (texture) of CeO2 with pressure were also measured, allowing for the determination of active deformation mechanisms using an elasto-viscoplastic self-consistent model (EVPSC). It was found that as pressure increased, the [001] direction had a slight preferred orientation along the axis of compression. Our EVPSC model of experimental fiber (cylindrically symmetric) textures and lattice strains were most consistent with dominant slip activity along {111}⟨11¯0⟩. 

We demonstrate rapid imaging based on four-wave mixing (FWM) by assessing the quality of advanced materials through measurement of their nonlinear response, exciton dephasing, and exciton lifetimes. We use a WSe 2 monolayer grown by chemical vapor deposition as a canonical example to demonstrate these capabilities. By comparison, we show that extracting material parameters such as FWM intensity, dephasing times, excited state lifetimes, and distribution of dark/localized states allows for a more accurate assessment of the quality of a sample than current prevalent techniques, including white light microscopy and linear micro-reflectance spectroscopy. We further discuss future improvements of the ultrafast FWM techniques by modeling the robustness of exponential decay fits to different spacing of the sampling points. Employing ultrafast nonlinear imaging in real-time at room temperature bears the potential for rapid in-situ sample characterization of advanced materials and beyond. 

Abstract New X‐ray crystallography and cryo‐electron microscopy (cryo‐EM) approaches yield vast amounts of structural data from dynamic proteins and their complexes. Modeling the full conformational ensemble can provide important biological insights, but identifying and modeling an internally consistent set of alternate conformations remains a formidable challenge. qFit efficiently automates this process by generating a parsimonious multiconformer model. We refactored qFit from a distributed application into software that runs efficiently on a small server, desktop, or laptop. We describe the new qFit 3 software and provide some examples. qFit 3 is open‐source under the MIT license, and is available athttps://github.com/ExcitedStates/qfit-3.0. 

A new diamond anvil cell experimental approach has been implemented at the European x-ray Free Electron Laser, combining pulsed laser heating with MHz x-ray diffraction. Here, we use this setup to determine liquidus temperatures under extreme conditions, based on the determination of time-resolved crystallization. The focus is on a Fe-Si-O ternary system, relevant for planetary cores. This time-resolved diagnostic is complemented by a finite-element model, reproducing temporal temperature profiles measured experimentally using streaked optical pyrometry. This model calculates the temperature and strain fields by including (i) pressure and temperature dependencies of material properties, and (ii) the heat-induced thermal stress, including feedback effect on material parameter variations. Making our model more realistic, these improvements are critical as they give 7000 K temperature differences compared to previous models. Laser intensities are determined by seeking minimal deviation between measured and modeled temperatures. Combining models and streak optical pyrometry data extends temperature determination below detection limit. The presented approach can be used to infer the liquidus temperature by the appearance of SiO2 diffraction spots. In addition, temperatures obtained by the model agree with crystallization temperatures reported for Fe–Si alloys. Our model reproduces the planetary relevant experimental conditions, providing temperature, pressure, and volume conditions. Those predictions are then used to determine liquidus temperatures at experimental timescales where chemical migration is limited. This synergy of novel time-resolved experiments and finite-element modeling pushes further the interpretation capabilities in diamond anvil cell experiments. 

An experimental platform for dynamic diamond anvil cell (dDAC) research has been developed at the High Energy Density (HED) Instrument at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European XFEL). Advantage was taken of the high repetition rate of the European XFEL (up to 4.5 MHz) to collect pulse-resolved MHz X-ray diffraction data from samples as they are dynamically compressed at intermediate strain rates (≤10³ s⁻¹), where up to 352 diffraction images can be collected from a single pulse train. The set-up employs piezo-driven dDACs capable of compressing samples in ≥340 µs, compatible with the maximum length of the pulse train (550 µs). Results from rapid compression experiments on a wide range of sample systems with different X-ray scattering powers are presented. A maximum compression rate of 87 TPa s⁻¹was observed during the fast compression of Au, while a strain rate of ∼1100 s⁻¹was achieved during the rapid compression of N₂at 23 TPa s⁻¹. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> An angular analysis ofB⁰→ K^*0e⁺e⁻decays is presented using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb⁻¹. The analysis is performed in the region of the dilepton invariant mass squared of 1.1–6.0 GeV²/c⁴. In addition, a test of lepton flavour universality is performed by comparing the obtained angular observables with those measured inB⁰→ K^*0μ⁺μ⁻decays. In general, the angular observables are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations as well as with global analyses of otherb → sℓ⁺ℓ⁻processes, whereℓis either a muon or an electron. No sign of lepton-flavour-violating effects is observed.