  X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) is a versatile technique with
wide-ranging applications, particularly in the fields of biology and medicine.
Where X-ray absorption radiography requires high density ratios for effective
imaging, XPCI is more sensitive to the density gradients inside a material. In
this letter, we apply XPCI to the study of laser-driven shockc waves. We used
two laser beams from the Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy Ion EXperiments
(PHELIX) at GSI: one to launch a shock wave and the other to generate an X-ray
source for XPCI. Our results suggest that this technique is suitable for the
study of warm dense matter (WDM), inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and
laboratory astrophysics.
