Electron vortices generation of photoelectron of H_(2)^(+) by counter-rotating circularly polarized attosecond pulses

Molecular-frame photoelectron momentum distributions(MF-PMDs) of an H_(2)^(+) molecule ion in the presence of a pair of counter-rotating circularly polarized attosecond extreme ultraviolet laser pulses is studied by numerically solving the two-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation within the frozen-nuclei approximation. At small time delay, our simulations show that the electron vortex structure is sensitive to the time delay and relative phase between the counterrotating pulses when they are partially overlapped. By adjusting time delay and relative phase, we have the ability to manipulate the MF-PMDs and the appearance of spiral arms. We further show that the internuclear distance can affect the spiral vortices due to its different transition cross sections in the parallel and perpendicular geometries. The lowest-order perturbation theory is employed to interpret these phenomena qualitatively. It is concluded that the internuclear distancedependent transition cross sections and the confinement effect in diatomic molecules are responsible for the variation of vortex structures in the MF-PMDs.

Density-dependent carrier-envelope phase shift in attosecond pulse generation from relativistically oscillating mirrors

The carrier-envelope phase(CEP)φ_(0)is one of the key parameters in the generation of isolated attosecond pulses.In particular,“cosine”pulses(φ_(0)=0)are best suited for generation of single attosecond pulses in atomic media.Such“cosine”pulses have the peak of the most intense cycle aligned with the peak of the pulse envelope,and therefore have the highest contrast between the peak intensity and the neighboring cycles.In this paper,the dynamics of single attosecond pulse generation from a relativistically oscillating plasma mirror is investigated.We use an elementary analytical model as well as particle-in-cell simulations to study few-cycle attosecond pulses.We find that the phase of the field driving the surface oscillations depends on the plasma density and preplasma scale length.This leads us to a counterintuitive conclusion:for the case of normal incidence and a sharp plasma-vacuum boundary,the CEP required for the generation of a single attosecond pulse phase is closer toφ_(0)=π/2(a“sine”pulse),with the exact value depending on the plasma parameters.

Polarization of M2 Line Emitted Following Electron-Impact Excitation of Beryllium-Like Ions

Detailed calculations are carried out for the electron-impact excitation cross sections from the ground state to the individual magnetic sublevels of the 1s2s^(2)2p^(3)/2 J=2 excited state of highly-charged beryllium-like ions by using a fully relativistic distorted-wave(RDW)method.The contributions of the Breit interaction to the linear polarization of the 1s2s^(2)2p^(3)/2 J=2→1s22s2 J=0 magnetic quadrupole(M2)line are investigated systematically for the beryllium isoelectronic sequence with 42≤Z≤92.It is found that the Breit interaction depolarizes significantly the linear polarization of the M2 fluorescence radiation and that these depolarization effects increase as the incident electron energy and/or the atomic number is enlarged.

Target fabrication for laser-ion acceleration research at the Technological Laboratory of the LMU Munich

The Technological Laboratory of LMU Munich supplies various types of solid-state target for laser plasma experiments at the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications in Garching.Our main focus here is on the production of free-standing,thin foil targets,such as diamond-likecarbon foils,carbon nanotube foams(CNFs),plastic,and gold foils.The presented methods comprise cathodic arc deposition for DLC targets,chemical vapor deposition for CNFs,a droplet and spin-coating process for plastic foil production,as well as physical vapor deposition that has been optimized to provide ultrathin gold foils and tailored sacrifice layers.This paper reviews our current capabilities,which are a result of a close collaboration between target production processes and experiment,using high-power chirped pulse amplification laser systems over the past eight years.

Electron vortex generations in photoionization of hydrogen atoms by circularly-polarized chirped attosecond pulses

By numerically solving the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation and employing the analytical perturbative model,we investigated the chirp-induced electron vortex in the photoionization of hydrogen atoms by a pair of counter-rotating circularly polarized chirped attosecond extremely ultraviolet pulses.We demonstrated that single-photon ionization of hydrogen atoms generates photoelectron momentum distributions(PMDs)with distinct helical vortex structures either with or without a time delay between two counter-rotating circularly polarized laser pulses.These structures are highly sensitive to both the time delay between the pulses and their chirp parameters.Our analytical model reveals that the splitting of vortex spirals is caused by the sign changing of the chirp-induced frequency-dependent time delay.We showed that to obtain the counterpart of the PMD under a pair of counter-rotating circularly polarized chirped pulses,both chirp parameters and ordering of pulses need to be reversed.

p-wave resonances in the exponential cosine screened Coulomb potential

We perform benchmark calculations of the p-wave resonances in the exponentially cosine screened Coulomb potential using the uniform complex-scaling generalized pseudo-spectral method.The present results show significant improvement in calculation accuracy compared to previous predictions and correct the misidentification of resonance electron configuration in previous works.It is found that the resonance states approximately follow an n^(2)-scaling law which is similar to the bound counterparts.The birth of a new resonance would distort the trajectory of an adjacent higher-lying resonance.

Inner-shell ionization cross sections of atoms by positron impact

The relativistic binary-encounter-Bethe model with Wannier-type threshold law is employed to obtain the inner-shell ionization cross sections of multi-electron atoms(Ni,Cu,Y,Ag,Au,Yb,Ta,and Pb)for positron impact energies from the thresholds up to 105ke V.There is good agreement between the present calculations and the experimental data.The constant in the acceleration term derived from the Wannier law is determined to be 0.2 and 0.5 for the K-and L-shells,respectively.

Underwater ghost imaging with pseudo-Bessel-ring modulation pattern

In this study,we propose an underwater ghost-imaging scheme using a modulation pattern combining offset-position pseudo-Bessel-ring(OPBR)and random binary(RB)speckle pattern illumination.We design the experiments based on modulation rules to order the OPBR speckle patterns.We retrieve ghost images by OPBR beam with different modulation speckle sizes.The obtained ghost images have a better contrast-to-noise rate compared to RB beam ghost imaging under the same conditions.We verify the results both in the experiment and simulation.In addition,we also check the image quality at different turbidities.Furthermore,we demonstrate that the OPBR speckle pattern also provides better image quality in other objects.The proposed method promises wide applications in highly scattering media,atmosphere,turbid water,etc.

Unveiling the inner structure of electron pulses generated from a laser-wakefield accelerator

A novel diagnostic method has been used to gain deeper insight into the transverse structure and its evolution of electron pulses generated from a laser-wakefield accelerator.

Millijoule ultrafast optical parametric amplification as replacement for high-gain regenerative amplifiers

We report on the development of an ultrafast optical parametric amplifier front-end for the Petawatt High Energy Laser for heavy Ion eXperiments(PHELIX)and the Petawatt ENergy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments(PEnELOPE)facilities.This front-end delivers broadband and stable amplification up to 1 mJ per pulse while maintaining a high beam quality.Its implementation at PHELIX allowed one to bypass the front-end amplifier,which is known to be a source of pre-pulses.With the bypass,an amplified spontaneous emission contrast of 4.9×10^(−13)and a pre-pulse contrast of 6.2×10^(−11)could be realized.Due to its high stability,high beam quality and its versatile pump amplifier,the system offers an alternative for high-gain regenerative amplifiers in the front-end of various laser systems.

Zernike-coefficient extraction via helical beam reconstruction for optimization(ZEHBRO) in the far field

The spatial distribution of beams with orbital angular momentum in the far field is known to be extremely sensitive to angular aberrations,such as astigmatism,coma and trefoil.This poses a challenge for conventional beam optimization strategies when a homogeneous ring intensity is required for an application.We developed a novel approach for estimating the Zernike coefficients of low-order angular aberrations in the near field based solely on the analysis of the ring deformations in the far field.A fast,iterative reconstruction of the focal ring recreates the deformations and provides insight into the wavefront deformations in the near field without relying on conventional phase retrieval approaches.The output of our algorithm can be used to optimize the focal ring,as demonstrated experimentally at the 100 TW beamline at the Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility.

Exploring new avenues in high repetition rate table-top coherent extreme ultraviolet sources

The process of high harmonic generation(HHG)enables the development of table-top sources of coherent extreme ultraviolet(XUV)light.Although these are now matured sources,they still mostly rely on bulk laser technology that limits the attainable repetition rate to the low kilohertz regime.Moreover,many of the emerging applications of such light sources(e.g.,photoelectron spectroscopy and microscopy,coherent diffractive imaging,or frequency metrology in the XUV spectral region)require an increase in the repetition rate.Ideally,these sources are operated with a multi-MHz repetition rate and deliver a high photon flux simultaneously.So far,this regime has been solely addressed using passive enhancement cavities together with low energy and high repetition rate lasers.Here,a novel route with significantly reduced complexity(omitting the requirement of an external actively stabilized resonator)is demonstrated that achieves the previously mentioned demanding parameters.A krypton-filled Kagome photonic crystal fiber is used for efficient nonlinear compression of 9 μJ,250 fs pulses leading to,7 μJ,31 fs pulses at 10.7 MHz repetition rate.The compressed pulses are used for HHG in a gas jet.Particular attention is devoted to achieving phase-matched(transiently)generation yielding.10^(13) photons s^(-1)(.50 μW)at 27.7 eV.This new spatially coherent XUV source improved the photon flux by four orders of magnitude for direct multi-MHZ experiments,thus demonstrating the considerable potential of this source.

Ultra-compact post-compressor on-shot wavefront measurement for beam correction at PHELIX

In order to reach the highest intensities,modern laser systems use adaptive optics to control their beam quality.Ideally,the focal spot is optimized after the compression stage of the system in order to avoid spatio-temporal couplings.This also requires a wavefront sensor after the compressor,which should be able to measure the wavefront on-shot.At PHELIX,we have developed an ultra-compact post-compressor beam diagnostic due to strict space constraints,measuring the wavefront over the full aperture of 28 cm.This system features all-reflective imaging beam transport and a high dynamic range in order to measure the wavefront in alignment mode as well as on shot.

Watt-scale super-octave mid-infrared intrapulse difference frequency generation

The development of high-power,broadband sources of coherent mid-infrared radiation is currently the subject of intense research that is driven by a substantial number of existing and continuously emerging applications in medical diagnostics,spectroscopy,microscopy,and fundamental science.One of the major,long-standing challenges in improving the performance of these applications has been the construction of compact,broadband mid-infrared radiation sources,which unify the properties of high brightness and spatial and temporal coherence.Due to the lack of such radiation sources,several emerging applications can be addressed only with infrared(IR)-beamlines in largescale synchrotron facilities,which are limited regarding user access and only partially fulfill these properties.Here,we present a table-top,broadband,coherent mid-infrared light source that provides brightness at an unprecedented level that supersedes that of synchrotrons in the wavelength range between 3.7 and 18μm by several orders of magnitude.This result is enabled by a high-power,few-cycle Tm-doped fiber laser system,which is employed as a pump at 1.9μm wavelength for intrapulse difference frequency generation(IPDFG).IPDFG intrinsically ensures the formation of carrierenvelope-phase stable pulses,which provide ideal prerequisites for state-of-the-art spectroscopy and microscopy.

Modal energy transfer by thermally induced refractive index gratings in Yb-doped fibers

Thermally induced refractive index gratings in Yb-doped fibers lead to transverse mode instability(TMI)above an average power threshold,which represents a severe problem for many applications.To obtain a deeper understanding of TMI,the evolution of the strength of the thermally induced refractive index grating with the average output power in a fiber amplifier is experimentally investigated for the first time.This investigation is performed by introducing a phase shift between the refractive index grating and modal interference pattern,which is obtained by applying a pump power variation to the fiber amplifier.It is demonstrated that the refractive index grating is sufficiently strong to enable modal energy coupling at powers that are significantly below the TMI threshold if the induced phase shift is sufficiently large.The experiments indicate that at higher powers,the refractive index grating becomes more sensitive to such phase shifts,which will ultimately trigger TMI.Furthermore,the experimental results demonstrate beam cleaning above the TMI threshold via the introduction of a positive phase shift.This finding paves the way for the development of a new class of mitigation strategies for TMI that are based on controlling the phase shift between the thermally induced refractive index grating and modal interference pattern.

Bright,high-repetition-rate water window soft X-ray source enabled by nonlinear pulse self-compression in an antiresonant hollow-core fibre

Bright,coherent soft X-ray radiation is essential to a variety of applications in fundamental research and life sciences.To date,a high photon flux in this spectral region can only be delivered by synchrotrons,free-electron lasers or high-order harmonic generation sources,which are driven by kHz-class repetition rate lasers with very high peak powers.Here,we establish a novel route toward powerful and easy-to-use SXR sources by presenting a compact experimentin which nonlinear pulse self-compression to the few-cycle regime is combined with phase-matched high-orderharmonic generation in a single,helium-illed antiresonant hollow-core fibre.This enables the first 100 kHz-classrepetition rate,table-top soft X-ray source that delivers an application-relevant flux of 2.8×10^6 photon s^-1 eV^-1 around 300 ev.The fibre integration of temporal pulse self-compression(leading to the formation of the necessarystrong-field waveforms)and pressure-controlled phase matching will allow compact,high-repetition-rate lasertechnology,including commercially available systems,to drive simple and cost-effective,coherent high-flux softX-ray sources.

The all-diode-pumped laser system POLARIS——an experimentalist's tool generating ultra-high contrast pulses with high energy

The development,the underlying technology and the current status of the fully diode-pumped solid-state laser system POLARIS is reviewed.Currently,the POLARIS system delivers 4 J energy,144 fs long laser pulses with an ultra-high temporal contrast of 5 × 1012 for the ASE,which is achieved using a so-called double chirped-pulse amplification scheme and cross-polarized wave generation pulse cleaning.By tightly focusing,the peak intensity exceeds 3.5 × 1020 W cm-2.These parameters predestine POLARIS as a scientific tool well suited for sophisticated experiments,as exemplified by presenting measurements of accelerated proton energies.Recently,an additional amplifier has been added to the laser chain.In the ramp-up phase,pulses from this amplifier are not yet compressed and have not yet reached the anticipated energy.Nevertheless,an output energy of 16.6 J has been achieved so far.

On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity

High-field experiments are very sensitive to the exact value of the peak intensity of an optical pulse due to the nonlinearity of the underlying processes.Therefore,precise knowledge of the pulse intensity,which is mainly limited by the accuracy of the temporal characterization,is a key prerequisite for the correct interpretation of experimental data.While the detection of energy and spatial profile is well established,the unambiguous temporal characterization of intense optical pulses,another important parameter required for intensity evaluation,remains a challenge,especially at relativistic intensities and a few-cycle pulse duration.Here,we report on the progress in the temporal characterization of intense laser pulses and present the relativistic surface second harmonic generation dispersion scan(RSSHG-D-scan)—a new approach allowing direct on-target temporal characterization of high-energy,few-cycle optical pulses at relativistic intensity.

How the laser beam size conditions the temporal contrast in pulse stretchers of chirped-pulse amplification lasers

In this work,we propose and verify experimentally a model that describes the concomitant influence of the beam size and optical roughness on the temporal contrast of optical pulses passing through a pulse stretcher in chirped-pulse amplification laser systems.We develop an analytical model that is capable of predicting the rising edge caused by the reflection from an optical element in a pulse stretcher,based on the power spectral density of the surface and the spatial beam profile on the surface.In an experimental campaign,we characterize the temporal contrast of a laser pulse that passed through either a folded or an unfolded stretcher design and compare these results with the analytical model.By varying the beam size for both setups,we verify that optical elements in the near-and the far-field act opposed to each with respect to the temporal contrast and that the rising edge caused by a surface benefits from a larger spatial beam size on that surface.

Enhancement of the laser-driven proton source at PHELIX

We present a study of laser-driven ion acceleration with micrometre and sub-micrometre thick targets,which focuses on the enhancement of the maximum proton energy and the total number of accelerated particles at the PHELIX facility.Using laser pulses with a nanosecond temporal contrast of up to 10^-12 and an intensity of the order of 1020 W/cm^2,proton energies up to 93 MeV are achieved.Additionally,the conversion efficiency at 45°incidence angle was increased when changing the laser polarization to p,enabling similar proton energies and particle numbers as in the case of normal incidence and s-polarization,but reducing the debris on the last focusing optic.