Structural and electronic properties of gold up to multi Mbar range

This proposal aims at probing the local ionic and electronic structure of gold, laser-shocked up to multi-Mbar and few thousands of Kelvin range. We will exploit the unique capabilities of the new High Power Laser Facility at the ESRF, enabling laser-driven dynamic compression probed by ultra-fast XAS at beamline ID24ED. Gold is a noble 5d metal characterized by high density, high stability, resistance to corrosion and oxidation making it critical elements for technology and shock devices. Au is employed in Inertial Confinement Fusion for metallic cavities and widely used as pressure marker in static compression. Nevertheless, its phase diagram in the multi-Mbar range is still largely debated and studies on its electronic structure at extreme conditions up to the Warm Dense Matter range are scarce. We thus aim at filling this gaps by acquiring XAS data of gold under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature, being XAS intrinsically sensitive to both ionic and electronic structure.