Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 196, 151-165 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2011-01425-0

Review

Aerodynamic levitation and laser heating:

Applications at synchrotron and neutron sources

¹ CEMHTI and University of Orléans, 45071 Orléans Cedex 02, France
² ILL, BP. 156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 09, France
³ ESRF, BP. 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 09, France
⁴ Synchrotron SOLEIL, BP. 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
⁵ Institute of Physics, Chemnitz UT, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany
⁶ IMAPS, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, SY23 3BZ, UK

^a e-mail: louis.hennet@cnrs-orleans.fr

Received: 1 December 2010
Revised: 13 April 2011
Published online: 30 May 2011

Abstract

Aerodynamic levitation is an effective way to suspend samples which can be heated with CO₂ lasers. The advantages of this containerless technique are the simplicity and compactness of the device, making it possible to integrate it easily in different kinds of experiments. In addition, all types of materials can be used, including metals and oxides. The integration of aerodynamic levitation at synchrotron and neutron sources provides powerful tools to study the structure and dynamics of molten materials. We present here an overview of the existing techniques and of the developments made at the CEMHTI in Orléans, as well as a few examples of experimental results already obtained.