Conventional solid-density laser-plasma targets quickly ionize to make a plasma mirror, which largely reflects ultra-intense laser pulses. This Fresnel reflection at the plane boundary largely wastes our e
orts at ultra-intense laser/solid interaction, and limits target heating to nonlinear generation of high-energy electrons which penetrate inward. One way around this dual problem is to create a material with an anisotropic dielectric function, for instance by nanostructuring a material in such a way that it cannot support the material responses which generate a specularly reflected beam. We present linear theory for metallic and plasma nanowires, particle-incell simulations of the interaction of ultra-intense femtosecond pulses with nickel nanowires, showing penetration of laser light far deeper than a nickel skin-depth, helping to uniformly heat near-solid material to conditions of high energy-densities, and XFEL experiments giving insight into their ionization and excitation.
KEYWORDS: Physics, Stanford Linear Collider, Free electron lasers, Lead, Photons, States of matter, Materials processing, Electrons, Analytical research, Raman spectroscopy
Interaction of short-wavelength free-electron laser (FEL) beams with matter is undoubtedly a subject to extensive investigation in last decade. During the interaction various exotic states of matter, such as warm dense matter, may exist for a split second. Prior to irreversible damage or ablative removal of the target material, complicated electronic processes at the atomic level occur. As energetic photons impact the target, electrons from inner atomic shells are almost instantly photo-ionized, which may, in some special cases, cause bond weakening, even breaking of the covalent bonds, subsequently result to so-called non-thermal melting. The subject of our research is ablative damage to lead tungstate (PbWO4) induced by focused short-wavelength FEL pulses at different photon energies. Post-mortem analysis of complex damage patterns using the Raman spectroscopy, atomic-force (AFM) and Nomarski (DIC) microscopy confirms an existence of non-thermal melting induced by high-energy photons in the ionic monocrystalline target. Results obtained at Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), Free-electron in Hamburg (FLASH), and SPring-8 Compact SASE Source (SCSS) are presented in this Paper.
We report a recent experiment where the first hard x-ray beam line, X-ray Pump Probe (XPP) instrument using the
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free electron laser, was used to heat thin
foils to high energy densities ~ 107 J/cm3. An intense 9 keV, 60 fs (FWHM) duration beam with energy of 2 - 4 mJ at
the XPP beam line was focused using beryllium lenses to an irradiance approaching 1016 Wcm-2. Targets of 0.5 - 3.5 μm
thick foils of Ag and Cu were studied using a suite of diagnostics including Fourier Domain Interferometry, energy
calorimetry and grating and crystal spectrometers. The experimental details and spectroscopic results from the campaign
will be described. Preliminary results indicate that the target is heated relatively uniformly to a temperature lower than
20 eV.
The recent commissioning of a X-ray free-electron laser triggered an extensive research in the area of X-ray ablation of
high-Z, high-density materials. Such compounds should be used to shorten an effective attenuation length for obtaining
clean ablation imprints required for the focused beam analysis. Compounds of lead (Z=82) represent the materials of first
choice. In this contribution, single-shot ablation thresholds are reported for PbWO4 and PbI2 exposed to ultra-short
pulses of extreme ultraviolet radiation and X-rays at FLASH and LCLS facilities, respectively. Interestingly, the
threshold reaches only 0.11 mJ/cm2 at 1.55 nm in lead tungstate although a value of 0.4 J/cm2 is expected according to
the wavelength dependence of an attenuation length and the threshold value determined in the XUV spectral region, i.e.,
79 mJ/cm2 at a FEL wavelength of 13.5 nm. Mechanisms of ablation processes are discussed to explain this discrepancy.
Lead iodide shows at 1.55 nm significantly lower ablation threshold than tungstate although an attenuation length of the
radiation is in both materials quite the same. Lower thermal and radiation stability of PbI2 is responsible for this finding.
We report on the x-ray absorption of Warm Dense Matter experiment at the FLASH Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility at DESY. The FEL beam is used to produce Warm Dense Matter with soft x-ray absorption as the probe of electronic structure. A multilayer-coated parabolic mirror focuses the FEL radiation, to spot sizes as small as 0.3μm in a ~15fs pulse of containing >1012 photons at 13.5 nm wavelength, onto a thin sample. Silicon photodiodes measure the transmitted and reflected beams, while spectroscopy provides detailed measurement of the temperature of the sample. The goal is to measure over a range of intensities approaching 1018 W/cm2. Experimental results will be presented along with theoretical calculations. A brief report on future FEL efforts will be given.
The beam of Free-Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) tuned at either 32.5 nm or 13.7 nm was focused by a grazing
incidence elliptical mirror and an off-axis parabolic mirror coated by Si/Mo multilayer on 20-micron and 1-micron spot,
respectively. The grazing incidence and normal incidence focusing of ~10-fs pulses carrying an energy of 10 μJ lead at
the surface of various solids (Si, Al, Ti, Ta, Si3N4, BN, a-C/Si, Ni/Si, Cr/Si, Rh/Si, Ce:YAG, poly(methyl methacrylate)
- PMMA, stainless steel, etc.) to an irradiance of 1013 W/cm2 and 1016 W/cm2, respectively. The optical emission of the
plasmas produced under these conditions was registered by grating (1200 lines/mm and/or 150 lines/mm) spectrometer
MS257 (Oriel) equipped with iCCD head (iStar 720, Andor). Surprisingly, only lines belonging to the neutral atoms
were observed at intensities around 1013 W/cm2. No lines of atomic ions have been identified in UV-vis spectra emitted
from the plasmas formed by the FLASH beam focused in a 20-micron spot. At intensities around 1016 W/cm2, the OE
spectra are again dominated by the atomic lines. However, a weak emission of Al+ and Al2+ was registered as well. The
abundance ratio of Al/Al+ should be at least 100. The plasma is really cold, an excitation temperature equivalent to 0.8 eV was found by a computer simulation of the aluminum plasma OE spectrum. A broadband emission was also
registered, both from the plasmas (typical is for carbon; there were no spectral lines) and the scintillators (on Ce:YAG
crystal, both the luminescence bands and the line plasma emission were recorded by the spectrometer).
J. Wark, J. Belak, G. Collins, J. Colvin, H. Davies, M. Duchaineau, J. Eggert, T. Germann, J. Hawreliak, A. Higginbotham, B. Holian, K. Kadau, D. Kalantar, P. Lomdahl, H. Lorenzana, M. Meyers, W. Murphy, N. Park, B. Remington, K. Rosolankova, R. Rudd, M. Schneider, J. Sheppard, J. Stolken
The past few years have seen a rapid growth in the development and exploitation of X-ray diffraction on ultrafast
time-scales. One area of physics which has benefited particularly from these advances is the the field of
shock-waves. Whilst it has been known for many years that crystalline matter, subjected to uniaxial shock
compression, can undergo plastic deformation and, for certain materials, polymorphic phase transformations,
it has hitherto not been possible to observe the rearrangement of the atoms on the pertinent timescales. We
have used laser-plasma generated X-rays to study how single crystals of metals (copper and iron) react to
uniaxial shock compression, and observed rapid plastic flow (in the case of copper), and directly observed the
famous alpha-epsilon transition in Iron. These studies have been complemented by large-scale multi-million atom
molecular dynamics simulations, yielding significant information on the underlying physics.
Zone folded coherent acoustic phonons were generated in a multilayered GaSb/InAs epitaxial heterostructure via rapid heating by femtosecond laser pulses. These phonons were probed by means of ultrafast x-ray diffraction. Phonons both from the fundamental acoustic branch and the first back-folded branch were detected. This represents the first clear evidence for phonon branch folding based directly on the atomic motion to which x-ray diffraction is sensitive. From a comparison of the measured phonon-modulated x-ray reflectivity with simulations, evidence was found for a reduction of the laser penetration depth. This reduction can be explained by the self-modulation of the absorption index due to photogenerated free carriers.
The temporal coherence properties of the X-ray pulse from a Free Electron Laser (FEL) will be altered during the process of dynamical diffraction from a perfect crystal. We present simulations of this process based on time-dependent dynamical diffraction theory. In addition, we present simulations of the diffraction of chirped X-ray pulses, demonstrating methods of pulse recompression by use of strained crystals.
Optical diagnostic techniques including interferometry, electronic streak photography, and transient x-ray diffraction are used to study the dynamic material response to shock loading by direct laser irradiation and impact by laser- launched plates. The Los Alamos Trident laser is one of several lasers that have been used to generate shocks of 10 Kbar to several Mbar in single crystal and polycrystalline materials. Incorporating optical velocity interferometry (line-VISAR and point-VISAR) with transient x-ray diffraction can provide a complete understanding of the dynamic material response to shock compression and release. Laser-launched flyer plates provide an ideal method to generate one- dimensional shocks in materials. The quality of the one- dimensionality of the launch and acceleration of plates is evaluated by line-imaging VISAR. The line-imaging VISAR images the fringes along a line across the diameter of the plate. Each fringe maxima and minima provide acceleration and velocity information at the specific point on the plate. By varying the fringe constant, number of fringes and fringe spacing on the plate, detailed experimental data can be obtained. For our experiments, most plates are 3-mm diameter and accelerated to 0.2 - > 6 km/sec.
Although the realisation of femtosecond X-ray free electron laser (FEL) X-ray pulses is still some time away, X-ray diffraction experiments within the sub-picosecond domain are already being performed using both synchrotron and laser- plasma based X-ray sources. Within this paper we summarise the current status of some of these experiments which, to date, have mainly concentrated on observing non-thermal melt and coherent phonons in laser-irradiated semiconductors. Furthermore, with the advent of FEL sources, X-ray pulse lengths may soon be sufficiently short that the finite response time of monochromators may themselves place fundamental limits on achievable temporal resolution. A brief review of time-dependent X-ray diffraction relevant to such effects is presented.
Laser-generated shocks can and have been used to study their effects on single crystal materials during shock compression. While a crystal undergoes shock compression and release, the transient x- ray diffraction (TXD) of the Bragg and Laue signals is indicative of the change in the crystal lattice spacing. The lattice spacing directly relates to the strain in the crystal. From the dynamic lattice data, strain, strain rate, and/or phase change in a material may be determined. Confined ablation plasmas can efficiently launch a flyer plate for direct impact on a target material imparting a well-characterized shock input and generate kilobar to megabar pressure pulses over a wide range of pulse duration (<EQ 1 - >= 20 ns). The laser-launched flyer plates are analogous to those launched by gas guns, but the smaller size provides an experimental method not easily accessible by larger gas gun experiments. With lasers, diagnostic equipment can be easily synchronized to study dynamic material parameters, i.e., single crystal shock dynamics, interfacial bond strengths of thin coatings, grain-interfaces, texture, and high strain rates (106 - 109 sec-1).
Ne-like and Ni-like ions have been pumped in the transient gain regime using intense picosecond pump pulses from Vulcan in its CPA mode. High gain coefficients of at least approximately 30/cm are observed for the Ne-like ions Ti XIII, Ge XXIII and Sn XXIII at wavelengths 31.2, 19.6 and 12.0 nm respectively and approximately 20/cm for the Ni-like ion Sm XXXV at 7.3 nm. Saturated output is found in all cases for target lengths shorter than 10 mm and the effect of traveling wave pumping has been studied and unequivocably demonstrated. An experimental campaign to observe four wave mixing using a soft x-ray laser and an optical laser in a sum-difference frequency mixing scheme has been initiated. Preliminary results are described and future directions discussed.
Time-dependent x-ray diffraction has been measured from laser-irradiated semiconductor crystals. Laser pulses with 100 fs duration and 800 nm wavelength excite the sample inducing phase transitions. 5 keV x-rays from the Advanced Light Source are diffracted by a sagittally-focusing Si (111) crystal and then by the sample crystal, InSb (111), onto an avalanche photodiode. By detecting individual pulses of synchrotron radiation, which have a duration of 70 ps, the diffracted intensity is observed to decrease because of photoabsorption in a disordered surfaced layer. Rocking curves measured after the laser irradiation show a tail, which results from a strained region caused by expansion of the crystal lattice.
We report the first demonstration of saturation in nickel-like x-ray lasers, specifically nickel-like Ag, In, Sn, and Sm x- ray lasers at wavelengths of 14, 12.6, 12.0 and 7.3 nm respectively. These x-ray lasers were found to be very monochromatic x-ray sources with the laser lines completely dominating the output spectra. Using high-resolution spatial imaging and angularly resolved streaking techniques, the output source sizes as well as the time histories, divergences, energies and spatial profiles of these x-ray lasers have been fully characterized. The output intensities of these x-ray lasers were measured to be in the range of 0.7 - 2 X 1011 W (DOT) cm-2 in approximately 40 ps. The high monochromaticity, narrow divergence, short pulse duration, high efficiency and high brightness of these x-ray lasers make them ideal candidates for many applications.
The use of multi-pulse irradiation of neon-like ions has been shown to produce orders-of-magnitude enhancement of x-ray laser output. Recent results obtained at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are reviewed with an emphasis on understanding the reasons for the enhancement. Simulations with the fluid and atomic physics code EHYBRID are used to show that enhancement occurs because of a spatial enlargement of the gain region and consequent better propagation of the x- ray laser beam along the gain region.
Allan Hauer, Justin Wark, Daniel Kalantar, Bruce Remington, Roger Kopp, James Cobble, Bruce Failor, George Kyrala, M. Meyers, R. Springer, Thomas Boehly
Time resolved x-ray diffraction and scattering have been applied to the measurement of a wide variety of physical phenomena from chemical reactions to shock wave physics. Interest in this method has heightened in recent years with the advent of versatile, high power, pulsed x-ray sources utilizing laser plasmas, electron beams and other methods. In this article, we will describe some of the fundamentals involved in time resolved x-ray diffraction, review some of the history of its development, and describe some recent progress in the field. In this article we will emphasize the use of laser-plasma as the x-ray source for transient diffraction.
X-ray diffraction from dynamically compressed solids has been an area of active research for more than half a century. As early as 1950, Schall obtained submicrosecond, single-shot x-ray diffraction patterns of single crystals under dynamic deformation. Almost two decades later Q. Johnson and coworkers succeeded in obtaining diffraction patterns with an exposure time of tens of nanoseconds from an explosively shocked crystal, and were the first to demonstrate diffraction evidence for a shock induced phase transition. Over the past few years we have shown that even shorter exposure times can be achieved by using a laser-plasma as the source of x-rays, synchronous to a laser driven shock. In this paper we will review the progress made in this field, emphasising the potential applications fo time-resolved x-ray diffraction for addressing some of the fundamental problems of shock wave physics.
X-ray diffraction during transient events requires a high x-ray brightness source which is spatially collimated or spectrally concentrated, as well as synchronizable to the event. Perhaps the most demanding transient event to study is the shockwave, because the event moves at high speed and the sample possesses a high density of mechanical energy which can be hazardous to the measuring apparatus. The properties of diffraction--narrow angular acceptance, spectral requirements, shallow penetration depths, line-of-sight integration--are both enabling and limiting. This paper will discuss the factors involved in transient x-ray diffraction experiments of shocks, to include a summary of past work, and an orientation to the use of laser plasmas for both x-ray pulse production and shock generation. We have diffractively probed laser shocks in the launching of elastic compression waves and their reflection from a free surface, and have probed orthogonal lattice planes simultaneously to reveal directional differences in compression. Diffraction imaging (topography) with approximately 50 micrometers resolution has revealed microstructural effects. A focusing powder spectrum has been acquired in a static experiment. We have used x-ray streak cameras to record diffraction patterns with 50 ps resolution.
Michael Key, W. Blyth, Gerald Cairns, A. Damerell, A. Dangor, Colin Danson, J. Evans, Graeme Hirst, M. Holden, Chris Hooker, J. Houliston, J. Krishnan, Ciaran Lewis, J. Lister, Andrew MacPhee, Z. Najmudin, David Neely, Peter Norreys, Allen Offenberger, Karoly Osvay, Geoffrey Pert, S. Preston, Stuart Ramsden, Ian Ross, Wilson Sibbett, Gregory Tallents, C. Smith, Justin Wark, Jie Zhang
An injector-amplifier architecture for XUV lasers has been developed and demonstrated using the Ge XXIII collisional laser. Results are described for injection into single and double plasma amplifiers. Prismatic lens-like and higher order aberrations in the amplifier are considered. Limitations on ultimate brightness are discussed and also scaling to operation at shorter wavelengths. A preliminary study has been made of UV multiphoton ionization using 300 fs pulses at high intensity.
We report results of Thomson scattering measurements of optically ionized gases produced using 12 psec pulses from a KrF-pumped Raman laser at intensities of 3 X 1017 W cm-2. Electron densities and temperatures are determined from the scattered Thomson spectra in both He and Ne (static and gas jet targets) at pressures of 10-3 - 1 bar. The central, low frequency region of the spectra from low pressure shots clearly shows an enhanced intensity above that given by the Salpeter approximation, and is indicative of a high electron-to-ion temperature ratios of at least 10 - 20. These observations are consistent with the long electron-ion collision time relative to the pulse length.
In situ x-ray diffraction from laser-shocked crystals provides one means of diagnosing high strain-rate (108 - 109 s-1) compression/tension waves in solids. Typically the radiation diffracted from the shocked crystals is relatively broadband, consisting of the resonance and intercombination lines of the helium-like ions of medium Z atoms, and their associated lithium-like dielectronic satellites. Deconvolution of this time-dependent x-ray spectrum will yield more detailed information on the strain profiles within the crystal. Preliminary results of a maximum entropy routine are presented.
X-ray spectroscopy of laser-generated plasmas has been performed by using two non- conventional variants of the double-crystal spectrometer and the Johann spectrometer. They provide a very high spectral resolution in a limited spectral range that covers, for example, the range of a resonance line and its satellites. The excellent luminosity of the vertical variant of the Johann spectrometer makes its application very attractive, in spite of the need for exact testing and alignment.
A brief summary is given of some of the research in high power laser physics currently being performed in the United Kingdom. The survey is not intended to be comprehensive, and we have limited ourselves to highlighting a selection of topics of particular interest including plans for the development of short pulse laser systems, recent progress in x-ray laser research, and novel applications of laser-plasma x-ray sources.
Characteristics of several crystal spectrographs are analyzed on the basis of high-resolution spectra from laser-produced plasma. Using a tray tracing procedure, potential methods to optimize the experimental setup are indicated. Non-conventional applications of the double crystal spectrometer and focusing Johann spectrometer are discussed from the point of view of the highest spectral and spatial resolution, luminosity, and spectral range attainable.
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