Direct observation of ultrafast atomic motion using time-resolved X-ray diffraction Vom Fachbereich Physik der Universität Duisburg-Essen zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften genehmigte Dissertation von Uladzimir Shymanovich aus Minsk Referent: Prof. Dr. Dietrich von der Linde Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Michael Horn-von Hoegen Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 13.11.2007 Contents Contents Contents .......................................................................................................................I List of figures............................................................................................................III List of tables ..........................................................................................................VIII 1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Introduction and motivation.............................................................................. 1 1.2. Overview and structure of the thesis................................................................. 3 1.3. Generation of ultashort X-ray pulses from laser produced plasmas................. 5 2. Experimental setup................................................................................................ 7 2.1. 10 Hz Titanium-Sapphire laser system..................................