X-ray Free Electron Laser-Induced Synthesis of ε-Iron Nitride at High Pressures.

The ultrafast synthesis of ε-FeN in a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) from Fe and N under pressure was observed using serial exposures of an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). When the sample at 5 GPa was irradiated by a pulse train separated by 443 ns, the estimated sample temperature at the delay time was above 1400 K, confirmed by transformation of α- to γ-iron. Ultimately, the Fe and N reacted uniformly throughout the beam path to form FeN, as deduced from its established equation of state (EOS). We thus demonstrate that the activation energy provided by intense X-ray exposures in an XFEL can be coupled with the source time structure to enable exploration of the time-dependence of reactions under high-pressure conditions.