The video shows sound waves traveling through a diamond crystal; To look

According to a new study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of scientists managed to observe moving sound waves through a diamond crystal just one millimeter across. The group even recorded a video of the new method. See below!

In the research carried out at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the team used an x-ray machine that made it possible to capture images of sound waves in small diamond crystals. In this way scientists observed how the mechanical energy of sound works over time intervals It varies from picosecond (one-trillionth of a second) to microsecond (one-millionth).

To record images of the speed of sound in the crystal, the researchers built a type of x-ray microscope at the tip of a 3 km-long free electron laser; Additionally, multiple lenses were used to enlarge the image. The x-ray and optical laser beams emitted were ‘as thin as a hair’ to ensure better precision during measurement.

“We want to see these changes in 3D, but until now it has not been possible to do this quickly and without damaging the crystals. Our new technology can make this happen faster and more non-invasively, and will work for many crystals. For speed 3 km long ‘X’ for imaging sound At the end of the -beam free electron laser (XFEL) it was necessary to build a completely new microscope,” explains Henning Friis Poulsen, author and professor at DTU’s department of physics.

Sound waves in diamond crystal

The results offer the opportunity to investigate a wide range of ultrafast structural events that have hitherto been unstudiable by science, the scientists explain. For example, future studies Better understand the processes of photonic crystals, thermoelectric materials, and other soft materials such as perylene and hybrid perovskites.

After initial tests, the team discovered that only an x-ray pulse of less than a thousandth of a nanosecond was needed to create the images. This also allows new options for other studies that aim to observe “random and irreversible processes in real time”; in these cases at a scale lower than the current microsecond limit.

“Visualizing structural processes on a submicrosecond time scale is relevant in solid-state physics, materials science, and earth sciences. For example, when you want to understand processes in soft materials such as metamaterials, photonic crystals, thermoelectric materials, and even perylene and hybrid perovskites. Finally, how sound travels through planetary materials Testing of seismological models that demonstrate this could be useful in the earth sciences,” said co-author Theodor S. Holstad in an official statement.

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