Researchers combined a beamstop-free small-angle X-ray scattering method with an X-ray free-electron laser to measure plasma structures from 10 nm to 500 nm in a single pulse with one camera. They tracked laser-driven collapse of silicon rod targets at sub-picosecond resolution, finding that a few nanometers of extra initial plasma size cuts laser absorption to about one-fourth.

— via Phys.org