Probing laser-driven surface and subsurface dynamics via grazing-incidence XFEL scattering and diffraction

Abstract

We demonstrate a grazing-incidence X-ray platform that simultaneously records time-resolved grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GID) from a femtosecond-laser-irradiated gold film above the melting threshold, with picosecond resolution using an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). By tuning the X-ray incidence angle, the probe depth is set to tens of nanometres, enabling depth-selective sensitivity to near-surface dynamics. GISAXS resolves ultrafast changes in surface nanomorphology (correlation length, roughness), while GID quantifies subsurface lattice compression, grain orientation, melting and recrystallization. The approach overcomes photon-flux limitations of synchrotron grazing-incidence geometries and provides stringent, time-resolved benchmarks for complex theoretical models of ultrafast laser-matter interaction and warm dense matter. Looking ahead, the same depth-selective methodology is well suited to inertial confinement fusion (ICF): it can visualize buried-interface perturbations and interfacial thermal resistance on micron to sub-micron scales that affect instability seeding and burn propagation. © 2026 Lisa Randolph et al.