ULTRAFAST X-RAY-DIFFRACTION USING A STREAK-CAMERA DETECTOR IN AVERAGING MODE

We demonstrate an apparatus for measuring time-dependent x-ray diffrac tion. X-ray pulses from a synchrotron are diffracted by a pair of Si(1 11) crystals and detected with an x-ray streak camera that has single- shot resolution of better than 1 ps. The streak camera is driven by a photoconductive su itch, which is triggered by 100-fs laser pulses at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The laser and the streak camera are synchr onized with the synchrotron pulses. In the averaging mode, trigger jit ter results in 2-ps temporal resolution. We measured the duration of 5 -keV pulses from the Advanced Light Source synchrotron to be 70 ps. (C ) 1997 Optical Society of America.