Dark-Field X-ray Microscopy for 2D and 3D imaging of Microstructural Dynamics at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser

Dark field X-ray microscopy (DXFM) has enabled experiments to visualize microstructural distortions in bulk crystals. Using the femtosecond X-ray pulses generated by X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL), DFXM can achieve ~1-um spatial resolution and <100 fs time resolution simultaneously. In this paper, we present the first ultrafast DFXM measurements at the European XFEL. In this work, we demonstrate DFXM of laser-induced phonon wavepackets propagating through dislocations inside a diamond single crystal. In addition to demonstrating this new capability, we present two new DFXM scanning techniques for XFEL applications, 3D and axial-strain scans with sub-{\mu}m spatial resolution. With this progress to XFEL DFXM, we discuss new opportunities to study multi-timescale spatio-temporal dynamics of defects, strain waves, and other localized phenomena deep inside crystals.