Helmholtz Young Investigator Group - Dominik Kraus

On September 1st, 2020, I started the professorship "High Energy Density Physics" at University of Rostock

Dynamic Warm Dense Matter Research with HIBEF

 "Warm Dense Matter" (WDM) is the name of the transition regime between cold solid or liquid matter and very hot plasmas. With temperatures from several thousand to several hundred thousand kelvins and densities around solid-state density, resulting in pressures from several thousand to several million atmospheres, a detailed investigation of matter under these extreme conditions is a young and highly evolving field of physics. 

A better understanding of the WDM state is highly desirable for astrophysics to e.g. improve modeling of the internal structure and evolution of planets, brown dwarfs and stars. Particularly, chemical processes in warm dense mixtures of light elements in the interior of planets strongly influence the magnetic field and surface temperature, which are important observables for models of planets in our and other solar systems. Moreover, WDM conditions were present during giant impacts in the early stages of our solar system, which defined the planetary structure up to creating the environment necessary for life on our planet. Finally, WDM conditions can be found as a transient state in every laboratory experiment where a solid-state sample is transferred quickly to a plasma state, prominent examples being intense laser-matter interaction as well as high-performance material and radiation damage research.

Robust physical models with predictive capabilities of the WDM regime are very challenging for various reasons . On the one hand, the temperature is in the order of the Fermi energy and thus, WDM cannot be described with methods of classical solid state physics (T~0) or plasma physics (T>>T_F). On the other hand, the thermal energy is similar to the ionization energy of valence electrons and chemical bonding energies, leading to partial ionization of the atoms. The resulting ions remain in a strongly coupled state with remnants of solid or liquid structure, given by highly complex ion-ion interaction potentials.

The controlled creation and even more the precise diagnosis of dynamic processes in WDM is extremely challenging. High-quality experiments require homogeneous samples, extreme temporal resolution and need to cover a broad parameter space. Since WDM samples are usually opaque for optical light, most brilliant X-ray sources are required for high-quality experiments. For a complete characterization, “over-diagnosis”, i. e. determining the same observable with different methods at the same time, is highly desirable, since most methods to determine WDM quantities are based on assumptions or require sophisticated theoretical models. This is especially true for measurements in non-equilibrium conditions. The combination of X-ray free electron lasers with high-energy/high-power optical lasers has shown to be capable of WDM experiments of unprecedented quality in terms of precision and time resolution. The HED experimental area at European XFEL equipped with HIBEF will set new standards here and our group is working towards first experiments at this facility to gain unprecedented insights into the dynamic properties of Warm Dense Matter.

Warm Dense Matter: Investigating Planets and Stars in the Laboratory
(talk at UC Berkeley Physics Colloquium)

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Group members

Dominik Kraus	Head
Benjamin Heuser	PhD student
Divyanshu Ranjan	PhD student
Katja Voigt	PhD student

+ great theory support from Jan Vorberger and co-workers. 

PhD + MSc./BSc. positions available in cooperation with University of Rostock

Contact Dominik Kraus for further information.

Alumni:

Dr. Nicholas Hartley - SLAC, Stanford, USA

Dr. Zhiyu He - Shanghai Institute of Laser Plasma, Shanghai, China

Dr. Anja Schuster - Marvel Fusion GmbH, Munich, Germany 

Dr. Min Zhang - University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

Dr. Oliver Humphries - European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany

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Teaching

• Summer semester 2020:
  Physics at Extreme Conditions - II
  LA Quanten (with Prof. J. Geck, lecture + exercise)

• Summer semester 2019:
  Physics at Extreme Conditions - II
  LA Quanten (with Prof. J. Geck, lecture + exercise)

• Winter semester 2018/2019:
  Understanding the universe (proseminar)

• Summer semester 2018:
  Warm dense matter (lecture)
  LA Quanten (with Prof. J. Geck, lecture + exercise)

• Winter semester 2017/2018:
  Understanding the universe (proseminar)
  Warm Dense Matter: Investigating Planets and Stars in the Laboratory (UC Berkeley Physics Colloquium)

• Summer semester 2017:
  Warm dense matter (lecture)
  LA Quanten (with Prof. J. Geck, lecture + exercise)

• Winter semester 2016/2017:
  Understanding the universe (proseminar)

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Media response

• List of selected news and blog articles covering our research
  (including CNN, Washington Post, The Times, Spiegel, ... and many more)

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Selected publications

• N. Sévelin-Radiguet, R. Torchio, G. Berruyer, H. Gonzalez, S. Pasternak, F. Perrin, F. Occelli, C. Pépin, A. Sollier, D. Kraus, A. Schuster, K. Voigt, M. Zhang, A. Amouretti, A. Boury, G. Fiquet, F. Guyot, M. Harmand, M. Borri, J. Groves, W. Helsby, S- Branly, J. Norby, S. Pascarelli and O. Mathon
  Towards a dynamic compression facility at the ESRF
  Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 29, 167-179 (2022)

• L. B. Fletcher, J. Vorberger, W. Schumaker, C. Ruyer, S. Goede, E. Galtier, U. Zastrau, E.P. Alves, S. D. Baalrud, R.A. Baggott, B. Barbrel, Z. Chen, T. Döppner, M. Gauthier, D. Granados, J. B. Kim, D. Kraus, H. J. Lee, M. J. MacDonald, R. Mishra, A. Pelka, A. Ravasio, C. Roedel, A. R. Fry, R. Redmer, F. Fiuza, D. O. Gericke and S. H. Glenzer
  Electron-Ion Temperature Relaxation in Warm Dense Hydrogen Observed With Picosecond Resolved X-Ray Scattering
  Frontiers in Physics 10, 838524 (2022)

• K. Voigt, M. Zhang, K. Ramakrishna, A. Amouretti, K. Appel, E. Brambrink, V. Cerantola, D. Chekrygina, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone, K. Falk, L. B. Fletcher, D. O. Gericke, S. Göde, M. Harmand, N. J. Hartley, S. P. Hau-Riege, L. G. Huang, O. S. Humphries, M. Lokamani, M. Makita, A. Pelka, C. Prescher, A. K. Schuster, M. Smıd, T. Toncian, J. Vorberger, U. Zastrau, T. R. Preston and D. Kraus
  Demonstration of an x-ray Raman spectroscopy setup to study warm dense carbon at the high energy density instrument of European XFEL
  Physics of Plasmas 28, 082701 (2021)

• L. Gaus, L. Bischoff, M. Bussmann, E. Cunningham, C. B. Curry, E. Juncheng, E. Galtier, M. Gauthier, A. Laso García, M. Garten, S. Glenzer, J. Grenzer, C. Gutt, N. J. Hartley, L. Huang, U. Hübner, D. Kraus, H. J. Lee, E. E. McBride, J. Metzkes-Ng, B. Nagler, M. Nakatsutsumi, J. Nikl, M. Ota, A. Pelka, I. Prencipe, L. Randolph, M. Rödel, Y. Sakawa, H.-P. Schlenvoigt, M. Šmíd, F. Treffert, K. Voigt, K. Zeil, T. E. Cowan, U. Schramm and T. Kluge
  Probing ultrafast laser plasma processes inside solids with resonant small-angle x-ray scattering
  Physical Review Research 3, 043194 (2021)

• J. Nilsen, B. Bachmann, G. B. Zimmerman, R. Hatarik, T. Döppner, D. C. Swift, J. Hawreliak, G. W. Collins, R. W. Falcone, S. H. Glenzer, D. Kraus, O. L. Landen, J. I. Castor, H. D. Whitley and A. L. Kritcher
  Using neutrons and x rays to measure plasma conditions in a solid sphere of deuterated polyethylene compressed to densities of 35 g/cc at temperatures of 2 keV and pressures of 40 Gbar
  Physics of Plasmas 28, 122706 (2021)

• J. Lütgert, J. Vorberger, N. J. Hartley, K. Voigt, M. Rödel, A. K. Schuster, A. Benuzzi‐Mounaix, S. Brown, T. E. Cowan, E. Cunningham, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, E. Galtier, S. H. Glenzer, A. Laso Garcia, D. O. Gericke, P. A. Heimann, H. J. Lee, E. E. McBride, A. Pelka, I. Prencipe, A. M. Saunders, M. Schölmerich, M. Schörner, P. Sun, T. Vinci, A. Ravasio and D. Kraus
  Measuring the structure and equation of state of polyethylene terephthalate at megabar pressures
  Scientific Reports 11, 12883 (2021)

• D. C. Swift, A. L. Kritcher, J. A. Hawreliak, J. Gaffney, A. Lazicki, A. MacPhee, B. Bachmann, T. Döppner, J. Nilsen, H. D. Whitley, G. W. Collins, S. H. Glenzer, S. D. Rothman, D. Kraus and R. W. Falcone,
  Simultaneous compression and opacity data from time-series radiography with a Lagrangian marker
  Review of Scientific Instruments 92, 063514 (2021)

• M. J. MacDonald, A. M. Saunders, B. Bachmann, M. Bethkenhagen, L. Divol, M. D. Doyle, L. B. Fletcher, S. H. Glenzer, D. Kraus, O. L. Landen, H. J. LeFevre, S. R. Klein, P. Neumayer, R. Redmer, M. Schörner, N. Whiting, R. W. Falcone, and T. Döppner
  Demonstration of a laser-driven, narrow spectral bandwidth x-ray source for collective x-ray scattering experiments
  Physics of Plasmas 28, 032708 (2021)

• N. J. Hartley, J. Grenzer, L. Huang, Y. Inubushi, N. Kamimura, K. Katagiri, R. Kodama, A. Kon, W. Lu, M. Makita, T. Matsuoka, S. Nakajima, N. Ozaki, T. Pikuz, A. V. Rode, D. Sagae, A. K. Schuster, K. Tono, K. Voigt, J. Vorberger, T. Yabuuchi, E. E. McBride, D. Kraus
  Using Diffuse Scattering to Observe X-Ray-Driven Nonthermal Melting
  Physical Review Letters 126, 015703 (2021)

• T. R. Preston, S. Göde, J.-P. Schwinkendorf, K. Appel, E. Brambrink, V. Cerantola, H. Höppner, M. Makita, A. Pelka, C. Prescher, K. Sukharnikov, A. Schmidt, I. Thorpe, T. Toncian, A. Amouretti, D. Chekrygina, R. W. Falcone, K. Falk, L. B. Fletcher, E. Galtier, M. Harmand, N. J. Hartley, S. P. Hau-Riege, P. Heimann, L. G. Huang, O. S. Humphries, O. Karnbach, D. Kraus, H. J. Lee, B. Nagler, S. Ren, A. K. Schuster, M. Smid, K. Voigt, M. Zhang, U. Zastrau
  Design and performance characterisation of the HAPG von Hámos Spectrometer at the High Energy Density Instrument of the European XFEL
  Journal of Instrumentation 15, P11033 (2020)

• A. L. Kritcher, D. C. Swift, T. Döppner, B. Bachmann, L. X. Benedict, G. W. Collins, J. L. DuBois, F. Elsner, G. Fontaine, J. A. Gaffney, S. Hamel, A. Lazicki, W. R. Johnson, N. Kostinski, D. Kraus, M. J. MacDonald, B. Maddox, M. E. Martin, P. Neumayer, A. Nikroo, J. Nilsen, B. A. Remington, D. Saumon, P. A. Sterne, W. Sweet, A. A. Correa, H. D. Whitley, R. W. Falcone, S. H. Glenzer
  A measurement of the equation of state of carbon envelopes of white dwarfs
  Nature 584, 51-54 (2020)

• M. J. MacDonald, E. E. McBride, E. Galtier, M. Gauthier, E. Granados, D. Kraus, A. Krygier, A. L. Levitan, A. J. MacKinnon, I. Nam, W. Schumaker, P. Sun, T. B. van Driel, J. Vorberger, Z. Xing, R. P. Drake, S. H. Glenzer, L. B. Fletcher
  Using simultaneous x-ray diffraction and velocity interferometry to determine material strength in shock-compressed diamond
  Applied Physics Letters 116, 234104 (2020)

• M. Bethkenhagen, B. B. L. Witte, M. Schörner, G. Röpke, T. Döppner, D. Kraus, S. H. Glenzer, P. A. Sterne, R. Redmer
  Carbon ionization at gigabar pressures: An ab initio perspective on astrophysical high-density plasmas
  Physical Review Research 2, 023260 (2020)

• S. Frydrych, J. Vorberger, N. J. Hartley, A. K. Schuster, K. Ramakrishna, A. M. Saunders, T. van Driel, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, S. H. Glenzer, E. Granados, M. J. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, A. Pak, K. Voigt, M. Roth, P. Sun, D. O. Gericke, T. Döppner, D. Kraus 

  Demonstration of X-ray Thomson scattering as diagnostics for miscibility in warm dense matter
  Nature Communications 11, 2620 (2020)

• K. Schoenberg, V. Bagnoud, A. Blazevic, V. E. Fortov, D. O. Gericke, A. Golubev, D. H. H. Hoffmann, D. Kraus, I. V. Lomonosov, V. Mintsev, S. Neff, P. Neumayer, A. R. Piriz, R. Redmer, O. Rosmej, M. Roth, T. Schenkel, B. Sharkov, N. A. Tahir, D. Varentsov, Y. Zhao

  High-energy-density-science capabilities at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research
  Physics of Plasmas 27, 043103 (2020)

• N. J. Hartley, C. Zhang, X. Duan, L. G. Huang, S. Jiang, Y. Li, L. Yang, A. Pelka, Z. Wang, J. Yang, D. Kraus
  Dynamically pre-compressed hydrocarbons studied by self-impedance mismatch
  Matter and Radiation at Extremes 5, 028401 (2020)

• A. K. Schuster, N. J. Hartley, J. Vorberger, T. Döppner, T. van Driel, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, S. Frydrych, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, D. O. Gericke, S. H. Glenzer, E. Granados, M. J. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, A. Pak, I. Prencipe, K. Voigt, A. M. Saunders, P. Sun, D. Kraus
  Measurement of diamond nucleation rates from hydrocarbons at conditions comparable to the interiors of icy giant planets
  Physical Review B 101, 054301 (2020)

• N. J. Hartley, J. Grenzer, W. Lu, L. G. Huang, Y. Inubushi, N. Kamimura, K. Katagiri, R. Kodama, A. Kon, V. Lipp, M. Makita, T. Matsuoka, N. Medvedev, S. Nakajima, N. Ozaki, T. Pikuz, A. V. Rode, K. Rohatsch, D. Sagae, A. K. Schuster, K. Tono, J. Vorberger, T. Yabuuchi, D. Kraus
  Ultrafast anisotropic disordering in graphite driven by intense hard X-ray pulses
  High Energy Density Physics 32, 63-69 (2019)

• J. Helfrich, J. Vorberger, S. Frydrych, G. Schaumann, A. Ravasio, M .Gauthier, L. B. Fletcher, B. Nagler, B. Barbrel, B. Bachmann, E. J. Gamboa, S. Göde, E. Granados, H. J. Lee, P. Neumayer, W. Schumaker, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone, S. H. Glenzer, M. Roth, D. Kraus
  Investigation of the temperature in dense carbon near the solid-liquid phase transition between 100 GPa and 200 GPa with spectrally resolved X-ray scattering
  High Energy Density Physics 32, 56-62 (2019)

• N. J. Hartley, S. Brown, T. E. Cowan, E. Cunningham, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, S. Frydrych, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, A. Laso Garcia, D. O. Gericke, S. H. Glenzer, E. Granados, P. A. Heimann, H. J. Lee, M. J. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, A. Pak, A. Pelka, I. Prencipe, A. Ravasio, M. Rödel, K. Rohatsch, A. M. Saunders, M. Schölmerich, M. Schörner, A. K. Schuster, P. Sun, T. van Driel, J. Vorberger, D. Kraus
  Evidence for Crystalline Structure in Dynamically-Compressed Polyethylene up to 200 GPa
  Scientific Reports 9, 4196 (2019)

• D. Kraus, B. Bachmann, B. Barbrel, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, S. Frydrych, E. J. Gamboa, M. Gauthier, D. O. Gericke, S. H. Glenzer, S. Göde, E. Granados, N. J. Hartley, J. Helfrich, H. J. Lee, B. Nagler, A. Ravasio, W. Schumaker, J. Vorberger, T. Döppner
  Characterizing the ionization potential depression in dense carbon plasmas with high-precision spectrally resolved x-ray scattering
  Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 61, 014015 (2019)

• N. J. Hartley, J. Vorberger, T. Döppner, T. Cowan, R. W. Falcone, L. B. Fletcher, S. Frydrych, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, D. O. Gericke, S. H. Glenzer, E. Granados, M. J. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, A. Pak, K. Rohatsch, A. M. Saunders, A. K. Schuster, P. Sun, T. van Driel, D. Kraus
  Liquid Structure of Shock-Compressed Hydrocarbons at Megabar Pressures
  Physical Review Letters 121, 245501 (2018)

• D. Kraus, N. J. Hartley, S. Frydrych, A. K. Schuster, K. Rohatsch, M. Rödel, T. E. Cowan, S. Brown, E. Cunningham, T. van Driel, L. B. Fletcher, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, A. Laso Garcia, D. O. Gericke, E. Granados, P. A. Heimann, H. J. Lee, M. J. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, A. Pak, A. Pelka, I. Prencipe, A. Ravasio, R. Redmer, A. M Saunders, M. Schölmerich, M. Schörner, P. Sun, S. J. Turner, A. Zettl, R. W. Falcone, S. H. Glenzer, T. Döppner, J. Vorberger
  High-pressure chemistry of hydrocarbons relevant to planetary interiors and inertial confinement fusion
  Physics of Plasmas 25, 056313 (2018)

• T. Döppner, D. C. Swift, A. L. Kritcher, B. Bachmann, G. W. Collins, D. A. Chapman, J. Hawreliak, D. Kraus, J. Nilsen, S. Rothman, L. X. Benedict, E. Dewald, D. E. Fratanduono, J. A. Gaffney, S. H. Glenzer, S. Hamel, O. L. Landen, H. J. Lee, S. LePape, T. Ma, M. J. MacDonald, A. G. MacPhee, D. Milathianaki, M. Millot, P. Neumayer, P. A. Sterne, R. Tommasini, R. W. Falcone
  Absolute Equation-of-State Measurement for Polystyrene from 25 to 60 Mbar Using a Spherically Converging Shock Wave
  Physical Review Letters 121, 025001 (2018)

• D. Kraus, J. Vorberger, A. Pak, N. J. Hartley, L. B. Fletcher, S. Frydrych, E. Galtier, E. J. Gamboa, D. O. Gericke, S. H. Glenzer, E. Granados, M. M. MacDonald, A. J. MacKinnon, E. E. McBride, I. Nam, P. Neumayer, M. Roth, A. M. Saunders, A. K. Schuster, P. Sun, T. van Driel, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone

  Formation of diamonds in laser-compressed hydrocarbons at planetary interior conditions

  Nature Astronomy 1, 606-611 (2017)

• W. Cayzac, A. Frank, A. Ortner, V. Bagnoud, M. Basko, S. Bedacht, C. Bläser, A. Blazevic, S. Busold, O. Deppert, J. Ding, M. Ehret, P. Fiala, S. Frydrych, D. O. Gericke, L. Hallo, J. Helfrich, D. Jahn, E. Kjartansson, A. Knetsch, D. Kraus, G. Malka, N. Neumann, K. Pepitone, D. Pepler, S. Sander, G. Schaumann, T. Schlegel, N. Schroeter, D. Schumacher, M. Seibert, A. Tauschwitz, J. Vorberger, F. Wagner, S. Weih, Y. Zobus and M. Roth
  Experimental discrimination of ion stopping models near the Bragg peak in highly ionized matter
  Nature Communications 8, 15693 (2017)

• D. Kraus, A. Ravasio, M. Gauthier, D. O. Gericke, J. Vorberger, S. Frydrych, J. Helfrich, L. B. Fletcher, G. Schaumann, B. Nagler, B. Barbrel, B. Bachmann, E. J. Gamboa, S. Göde, E. Granados, G. Gregori, H. J. Lee, P. Neumayer, W. Schumaker, T. Döppner, R. W. Falcone, S. H. Glenzer, M. Roth
  Nanosecond formation of diamond and lonsdaleite by shock compression of graphite
  Nature Communications 7, 10970 (2016)

• D. Kraus, D. A. Chapman, A. L. Kritcher, R. A. Baggott, B. Bachmann, G. W. Collins, S. H. Glenzer, J. A. Hawreliak, D. H. Kalantar, O. L. Landen, T. Ma, S. Le Pape, J. Nilsen, D. C. Swift, P. Neumayer, R. W. Falcone, D. O. Gericke, T. Döppner
  X-ray scattering measurements on imploding CH spheres at the National Ignition Facility
  Physical Review E 94, 011202(R) (2016)

• D. Kraus, J. Vorberger, J. Helfrich, D. O. Gericke, B. Bachmann, V. Bagnoud, B. Barbrel, A. Blazevic, D. C. Carroll, W. Cayzac, T. Döppner, L. B. Fletcher, A. Frank, S. Frydrych, E. J. Gamboa, M. Gauthier, S. Goede, E. Granados, G. Gregori, N. Hartley, B. Kettle, H. J. Lee, B. Nagler, P. Neumayer, M. M. Notley, A. Ortner, A. Otten, A. Ravasio, D. Riley, F. Roth, G. Schaumann, D. Schumacher, W. Schumaker, K. Siegenthaler, C. Spindloe, F. Wagner, K. Wuensch, S. H. Glenzer, M. Roth, R. W. Falcone
  The complex ion structure of warm dense carbon measured by spectrally resolved x-ray scattering
  Physics of Plasmas 22, 056307 (2015)

• D. Kraus, J. Vorberger, D. O. Gericke, V. Bagnoud, A. Blazevic, W. Cayzac, A. Frank, G. Gregori, A. Ortner, A. Otten, F. Roth, G. Schaumann, D. Schumacher, K. Siegenthaler, F. Wagner, K. Wünsch, M. Roth
  Probing the complex ion structure of liquid carbon at 100 GPa
  Physical Review Letters 111, 255501 (2013)

• A. Frank, A. Blazevic, V. Bagnoud, M. M. Basko, M. Börner, W. Cayzac, D. Kraus, T.  Heßling, D. H. H. Hoffmann, A. Ortner, A. Otten, A. Pelka, D. Pepler, D. Schumacher, An. Tauschwitz, M. Roth
  Energy Loss and Charge Transfer of Argon in a Laser-Generated Carbon Plasma
  Physical Review Letters 110, 115001 (2013)

• T. Bartal, M. E. Foord, C. Bellei, M. H. Key, K. A. Flippo, S. A. Gaillard, D. T. Offermann, P. K. Patel, L. C. Jarrott, D. P. Higginson, M. Roth, A. Otten, D. Kraus, R. B. Stephens, H. S. McLean, E. M. Giraldez, M. S. Wei, D. C. Gautier, F. N. Beg
  Focusing of short-pulse high-intensity laser-accelerated proton beams
  Nature Physics 8, 139–142 (2012)