A modern version of Newton's 'dusty 'mirror' experiment is made, whereby X-ray pulses are focused on a thin membrane with polystyrene particles placed in front of an X-ray mirror. After a pulse traverses through the sample, triggering the explosion of a particle, it is reflected back on to the sample by the mirror to probe this reaction. The resulting diffraction pattern contains accurate time and spatially resolved information about the exploding particles.
- Henry N. Chapman
- Stefan P. Hau-Riege
- Janos Hajdu
