Researchers have completed a groundbreaking experiment at the European XFEL.
An international team of scientists, led by the University of Rostock and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), set out to investigate matter under extreme pressure. In 2023, they used the high-power DIPOLE 100-X laser at the European XFEL for the very first time, achieving remarkable results. Their groundbreaking experiment successfully captured the behavior of liquid carbon, a feat never before accomplished, as reported in the journal Nature.
Liquid carbon occurs naturally inside planets and could play a crucial role in future energy technologies such as nuclear fusion. Yet until now, researchers knew very little about this elusive state. The challenge lies in the fact that carbon does not melt under normal conditions. Instead, it bypasses the liquid phase entirely and turns directly into gas.
To transform into a liquid, carbon requires extreme pressures combined with temperatures of about 4,500 degrees Celsius, the highest melting point of any known material. Containing such conditions in a laboratory setting has long been impossible because no physical container could survive them.
Laser compression provided the breakthrough. By delivering an intense, short burst of energy, the DIPOLE 100-X laser was able to convert solid carbon into liquid for only fractions of a second. The true challenge was capturing data during that fleeting moment. Thanks to the unique capabilities of the European XFEL, the world’s most powerful X-ray laser located in Schenefeld near Hamburg, researchers were finally able to make those measurements. Its ultrashort X-ray pulses made it possible to probe the liquid state in real time, turning a once unimaginable experiment into reality.
Unique measuring technology in this combination
The unique combination of the European XFEL with the high-performance laser DIPOLE100-X was crucial for the success of the experiment. It was developed by the British Science and Technology Facilities Council and made available to scientists from all over the world by the HIBEF User Consortium (Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields). A community of leading international research institutions at the HED-HIBEF (High Energy Density) experimental station at the European XFEL has now combined powerful laser compression with ultrafast X-ray analysis and large-area X-ray detectors for the first time.
In the experiment, the high-energy pulses of the DIPOLE100-X laser drive compression waves through a solid carbon sample and liquefy the material for nanoseconds, that is, for a billionth of a second. During this nanosecond, the sample is irradiated with the ultrashort X-ray laser flash of the European XFEL. The carbon atoms scatter the X-ray light – similar to the way light is diffracted by a grating. The diffraction pattern allows inferences to be drawn about the current arrangement of the atoms in the liquid carbon.
The whole experiment only lasts a few seconds but is repeated many times: every time with a slightly delayed x-ray pulse or under slightly different pressure and temperature conditions. Many snapshots combine to make a movie. Researchers have thus been able to trace the transition from solid to liquid phase one step at a time.
Water-like structure and accurate melting point determined
The measurements revealed that with four nearest neighbors each, the systemics of liquid carbon are similar to solid diamond. “This is the first time we have ever been able to observe the structure of liquid carbon experimentally. Our experiment confirms the predictions made by sophisticated simulations of liquid carbon. We are looking at a complex form of liquid, comparable to water, that has very special structural properties,” explains the head of the research collaboration’s Carbon Working Group, Prof. Dominik Kraus from the University of Rostock and HZDR.
The researchers also managed to precisely narrow down the melting point. Up to now, the theoretical predictions on the structure and melting point had diverged significantly. But precise knowledge is crucial for planet modelling and certain concepts for power generation through nuclear fusion.
The first DIPOLE experiment at the European XFEL also ushers in a new era in measuring matter under high pressure, as HED group leader, Dr. Ulf Zastrau, emphasizes, “We now have the toolbox to characterize matter under highly exotic conditions in incredible detail.” And the experiment’s potential is far from being exhausted. In the future, results that currently take several hours’ experiment time could be available in a few seconds – as soon as the complex automatic control and data processing work fast enough.
Reference: “The structure of liquid carbon elucidated by in situ X-ray diffraction” by D. Kraus, J. Rips, M. Schörner, M. G. Stevenson, J. Vorberger, D. Ranjan, J. Lütgert, B. Heuser, J. H. Eggert, H.-P. Liermann, I. I. Oleynik, S. Pandolfi, R. Redmer, A. Sollier, C. Strohm, T. J. Volz, B. Albertazzi, S. J. Ali, L. Antonelli, C. Bähtz, O. B. Ball, S. Banerjee, A. B. Belonoshko, C. A. Bolme, V. Bouffetier, R. Briggs, K. Buakor, T. Butcher, V. Cerantola, J. Chantel, A. L. Coleman, J. Collier, G. W. Collins, A. J. Comley, T. E. Cowan, G. Cristoforetti, H. Cynn, A. Descamps, A. Di Cicco, S. Di Dio Cafiso, F. Dorchies, M. J. Duff, A. Dwivedi, C. Edwards, D. Errandonea, S. Galitskiy, E. Galtier, H. Ginestet, L. Gizzi, A. Gleason, S. Göde, J. M. Gonzalez, M. G. Gorman, M. Harmand, N. J. Hartley, P. G. Heighway, C. Hernandez-Gomez, A. Higginbotham, H. Höppner, R. J. Husband, T. M. Hutchinson, H. Hwang, D. A. Keen, J. Kim, P. Koester, Z. Konôpková, A. Krygier, L. Labate, A. Laso Garcia, A. E. Lazicki, Y. Lee, P. Mason, M. Masruri, B. Massani, E. E. McBride, J. D. McHardy, D. McGonegle, C. McGuire, R. S. McWilliams, S. Merkel, G. Morard, B. Nagler, M. Nakatsutsumi, K. Nguyen-Cong, A.-M. Norton, N. Ozaki, C. Otzen, D. J. Peake, A. Pelka, K. A. Pereira, J. P. Phillips, C. Prescher, T. R. Preston, L. Randolph, A. Ravasio, D. Santamaria-Perez, D. J. Savage, M. Schölmerich, J.-P. Schwinkendorf, S. Singh, J. Smith, R. F. Smith, J. Spear, C. Spindloe, T.-A. Suer, M. Tang, M. Toncian, T. Toncian, S. J. Tracy, A. Trapananti, C. E. Vennari, T. Vinci, M. Tyldesley, S. C. Vogel, J. P. S. Walsh, J. S. Wark, J. T. Willman, L. Wollenweber, U. Zastrau, E. Brambrink, K. Appel and M. I. McMahon, 21 May 2025, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09035-6
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5 Comments
The Bizarre Material No Container Can Hold: Scientists Create Liquid Carbon in the Lab for the First Time.
No Container Can Hold. VERY GOOD!
Please ask the scientists to think deeply:
1. What would happen if the background space of the Liquid Carbon you Create does not have ideal fluid characteristics?
2. Why does physics today enjoy the convenience of ideal fluid characteristics of background space for work, life, and research, but refuse to acknowledge that background space exhibit ideal fluid characteristics?
3. Why does physics today firmly believe in there are particles like God, Demons, and Angels in space?
4. Where do the particles like God, Demons, and Angels come from in space?
, etc.
An entire generation has been severely misled, poisoned and fooled by so-called peer-reviewed publications. In today’s physics, the so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others—stubbornly insist on and promote the following:
1. Even though θ and τ particles exhibit differences in experiments, physics can claim they are the same particle. This is science.
2. Even though topological vortices and antivortices have identical structures and opposite rotational directions, physics can define their structures and directions as entirely different. This is science.
3. Even though two sets of cobalt-60 rotate in opposite directions and experiments reveal asymmetry, physics can still define them as mirror images of each other. This is science.
4. Even though vortex structures are ubiquitous—from cosmic accretion disks to particle spins—physics must insist that vortex structures do not exist and require verification. Only the particles that like God, Demonic, or Angelic are the most fundamental structures of the universe. This is science.
5. Even though everything occupies space and maintains its existence in time, physics must still debate and insist on whether space exists and whether time is a figment of the human mind. This is science.
6. Even though space, with its non-stick, incompressible, and isotropic characteristics, provides a solid foundation for the development of physics, physics must still insist that the ideal fluid properties of space do not exist. This is science.
And so on.
The so-called peer-reviewed journals—including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and others openly define differences as sameness, sameness as differences, existence as nonexistence, and nonexistence as existence—all while deceiving and fooling the public with so-called “impact factors (IF),” never knowing what shame is.
The universe is not a God, nor is it merely Particles. Moreover, it is not Algebra, Formulas, or Fractions. The universe is the superposition, deflection, entanglement, and locking of spacetime vortex geometries, the interaction and balance of topological vortices and their fractal structures. Topological invariants are the identical intrinsic properties between two isomorphic topological spaces. Different civilizations may create distinct mathematical codes or tools to describe the universality and specificity of these topological invariants under different physical laws.
Topology provides stability blueprints, but specific physics (spatial features, gravitational collapse, fluid viscosity, quantum measurement) dictates vortex generation, evolution, and decay. If researchers are interested in this, please visit https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1933484562941457487 and https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/1925124100134790589.
“spacetime” is Einsteinian relativity – which is the Lorenz Contraction – which alters, or bends, the otherwise expected linearity of numbers. Usually people stop right at the product, thinking this has been conformed with reality, – however – every number – has then been contracted – destroying all numbers used. A small but nagging oddity.
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The universe is not a God, nor is it merely Particles. Moreover, it is not Algebra, Formulas, or Fractions. The universe is the superposition, deflection, entanglement, and locking of geometric shape, the interaction and balance of self-organization for the spacetime vortices and their fractal structures. Topological invariants are the identical intrinsic properties between two isomorphic topological spacetimes. Different civilizations may create distinct mathematical codes or tools to describe the universality and specificity of these topological invariants under different physical laws.
So, the T-1000 is getting closer.
Scientific research guided by correct theories can enable researchers to think more. What is the difference between so-called peer-reviewed publications (including Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, etc.) that ignore the symmetry of topological vortices and adhere to natural laws (including CP) can be violated, and the omnipotent God?