Using XFELs to probe the interaction dynamics of ultra-intense lasers with solid-density matter

The advent of intense coherent hard x-ray sources based on free electron lasers have opened a new era of ultrafast science. Facilities such as FLASH, LCLS, SACLA, and the under-construction European XFEL, will enable time and spatially resolved probing of atomic, molecular, chemical, biological and plasma dynamics, on the scale of fs and nm. Here we present theoretical concepts to make use of coherent x-ray scattering to probe ultra-intense laser-driven plasmas. In addition, status of the HIBEF User Consortium at the European XFEL will be presented.