Collective coherent emission of electrons in strong laser fields and perspective for hard x-ray lasers

Coherent motion of particles in a plasma can imprint itself on radiation.The recent advent of high-power lasers—allowing the nonlinear inverse Compton-scattering regime to be reached—has opened the possibility of looking at collective effects in laser–plasma interactions.Under certain conditions,the collective interaction of many electrons with a laser pulse can generate coherent radiation in the hard x-ray regime.This perspective paper explains the limitations under which such a regime might be attained.

2D hydrodynamic simulation of a line-focused plasma in Ni-like Ag x-ray laser research

In most collisional schemes of x-ray laser （XRL） experiments, a bow-like intensity distribution of XRL is often observed, and it is generally ascribed to the two-dimensional hydrodynamic behaviour of expanding plasma. In order to better understand its essence in physics, a newly developed two-dimensional non-equilibrium radiation hydrodynamic code XRL2D is used to simulate a quasi-steady state Ni-like Ag XRL experiment on ShenGuang-Ⅱfacility. The simulation results show that the bow-like distribution of Ni-like ions caused by over-ionization in the central area of plasma is responsible for the bow-like shape of the XRL intensity distribution observed.

Theoretical research on enhancement of gain for Ni-like Ag 13.9 nm x-ray laser using a new two-layer target

For experiments such as on Ni-like Ag x-ray laser, driven by 1ω laser, the gain region is only several nm depth near the target surface, this paper proposes a new two-layer target, in which a thin layer （several nm depth） of silver is plated on the surface of some other materials. Furthermore, the Ni-like Ag 13.9 nm x-ray laser produced by three new kinds of two-layer target with CH, Al and Ge as foundation, was theoretically studied.

Investigation on the hydrodynamics of slab x-ray laser plasma by nonuiform line focused laser irradiation

Based on the two-dimensional model, this paper compares the hydrodynamics of slab x-ray laser plasma produced by different nonuniform line focused irradiations. It finds that the average intensity and the duration of laser pulse and the overall shape of the intensity distribution in the focal line have different influences on the plasma. Calculations show that the evolution of temperature variation is more sensitive to the pulse duration and the electron density variation is more sensitive to the pulse intensity. Pulses with duration of 200 ps to 500 ps and with intensity of 0.2 TW/cm2 to 1.0 TW/cm2 are proved acceptable in slab x-ray lasers.

Numerical study of the Ne-like Cr x-ray laser at 28.6nm

We investigate the Ne-like Cr x-ray laser at 28.6 nm by using a modified ID lagrangian hydrodynamic code MEDI03 coupled with an atomic physics data package and a 2D ray tracing code as a post-processor. The laser pumping configuration includes two prepulses and one main pulse. The first prepulse normally irradiates the target, while the second prepulse and the main pulse irradiate the target at grazing-incident angles. We predict that saturation can be achieved for the Ne-like Cr x-ray lasers with a total pumping energy of 125mJ, Good beam qualities with no deflecting angle and a small divergence angle of 5 mrad are observed.

2D parameter optimization of Ne-like Cr x-ray laser on slab

A method of studying a non-equilibrium x-ray laser plasma is developed by extending the existing one-dimensional similarity equations to the case of two-dimensional plasma study in the directions perpendicular to the slab and along a focal line. With this method the characteristics of pre-plasma are optimized for transient neon-like Cr x-ray laser. It is found that when the duration and the intensity of 1.053μm pre-pulse are 1.2 ns and 6.5 TW/cm^2 respectively with a delay time of 1.5 ns, the temperature and the temperature discrepancy each approach a proper state, which will provide a uniform distribution of properly ionized neon-like Cr ions before the arrival of pumping pulse.

Modeling the gain of inner-shell X-ray laser transitions in neon, argon, and copper driven by X-ray free electron laser radiation using photo-ionization and photo-excitation processes

Using an X-ray free electron laser(XFEL)at 960 eV to photo-ionize the 1s electron in neutral neon followed by lasing on the 2p-1s transition in singly-ionized neon,an inner-shell X-ray laser was demonstrated at 849 eV in singly-ionized neon gas several years ago.It took decades to demonstrate this scheme,because it required a very strong X-ray source that could photo-ionize the 1s(K shell)electron in neon on a timescale comparable to the intrinsic Auger lifetime in neon of 2 fs.In this paper,we model the neon inner shell X-ray laser under similar conditions to those used in the XFEL experiments at the SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source(LCLS),and show how we can improve the efficiency of the neon laser and reduce the drive requirements by tuning the XFEL to the 1s-3p transition in neutral neon in order to create gain on the 2p-1s line in neutral neon.We also show how the XFEL could be used to photo-ionize L-shell electrons to drive gain on n=3-2 transitions in singlyionized Ar and Cu plasmas.These bright,coherent,and monochromatic X-ray lasers may prove very useful for doing high-resolution spectroscopy and for studying non-linear process in the X-ray regime.

Hydrodynamics of Exploding Foil X-Ray Lasers with Time-Dependent Ionization Effect

A simple modified model is presented based on R. A. London＇s self-similarity model on time-independent ionization hydrodynamics of exploding foil X-ray lasers. In our model, the time-dependent ionization effect is under consideration and the average ion charge depends on the temperature. Then we obtain the new scaling laws for temperature, scale length and electron density, which have better agreement with experimental results.

Soft X-Ray Laser Gain from Neon like Gallium and Germanium

Gain coefficients are calculated for neon-like gallium and germanium ions. Shorter wavelengths are calculated and predicted to be emitted. The gain coefficients are calculated among 457 energy levels of the neon-like ions. Collisional excitations were calculated through the distorted wave approximations through five electron temperatures Te = 300, 500, 700, 1000 and 1500 eV.

Experimentai Research on Saturated-Gain for Soft X-Ray Laser from Neon-Like Germanium Plasma

AmpliHcation of spontaneous emissions at 19.6,23.2 and 23.6 nm have been observed by a “ultiple-Target Series Coupling”design in Ge plasma,.The combined length for four targets is up to 56mm.The gain length product(GL)of small signal is up to 18 for both lines at 23.2 and 23.6 nmt and the effective GL is 16.4 and 15.7 for these two lines respectively.This two lines are obviously tending to saturation.The divergence of x-ray laser beam is about 4 mrad.

Ti X-Ray Laser Shadowgraphy Experiment

An x-ray laser shadowgraphy experiment was conducted on Xingguang-Ⅱ laser facility in 1996.A multi-layer spherical mirror was used as an imaging element and a high sensitivity CCD camera as a detector.We measured the near-field image of the Ti x-ray laser beam.With a Ti x-ray laser beam as a backlight source,we obtained a clear CU mesh image,demonstrating the potential as advanced diagnostic measurements to study high density plasmas in inertial confinement fusion research.

High-repetition-rate few-attosecond high-quality electron beams generated from crystals driven by intense X-ray laser

Advances in X-ray laser sources have paved the way to relativistic attosecond X-ray laser pulses and opened up the possibility of exploring highenergy-density physics with this technology.With particle-in-cell simulations,we investigate the interaction of realistic metal crystals with relativistic X-ray laser pulses of parameters that will be available in the near future.A wakefield of the order of TV/cm is excited in the crystal and accelerates trapped electrons stably even though the wakefield is locally modulated by the crystal lattice.Electron injection either occurs at the sharp crystal-vacuum boundary or is controlled by coating the crystal with a high-density film.High-repetition-rate attosecond(20 as)monoenergetic electron beams of energy 125 MeV,charge 100 fC,and emittance 1.6310−9mrad can be produced by shining MHz X-ray laser pulses of energy 2.1 mJ onto coated crystals several micrometers thick.Such a miniature crystal accelerator,which has high reproducibility and allows sufficient control of the parameters of the electron beams,greatly expands the applications of X-ray free electron lasers.For example,it could serve as an ideal electron source for ultrafast electron diffraction and ultrafast electron microscopy to achieve attosecond resolution.

Corrigendum to“Modeling the gain of inner-shell X-ray laser transitions in neon,argon,and copper driven by X-ray free electron laser radiation using photo-ionization and photo-excitation processes”[Matter Radiation Extremes 1(1)(2016)76-81]

Corrigendum text:There is a misprint in the text of Figs.3 and 4.The text on the bottom part of Figs.3 and 4 should be“100 fs pulse Photoexcitation”and“1 fs pulse Photoexcitation”respectively.This error does not affect any conclusions in this work,and it has been corrected in the printed version of the journal.

Plasma-based X-ray laser speckle and its application on ferroelectric material

A new type of soft X-ray source, i.e. a plasma-based X-ray laser, is found to be promising to conduct transient measurement. By means of picosecond X-ray laser speckles, the dynamic microscopic polarization clusters within cubic (paraelectric) BaTiO3 was directly observed and characterized in a microscopic scale for the first time. This opens a way to study this type of clusters, which usually manifest large external-field response for ferroelectric materials.

Investigation of bubbles escape behavior from low basicity mold flux for high-Mn high-Al steels using 3D X-ray microscope

During the continuous casting process of high-Mn high-Al steels,various types of gases such as Ar need to escape through the top of the mold.In which,the behavior of bubbles traversing the liquid slag serves as a restrictive link,closely associated with viscosity and the thickness of liquid slag.In contrast to two-dimensional surface observation,three-dimensional(3D)analysis method can offer a more intuitive,accurate,and comprehensive information.Therefore,this study employs a 3D X-ray microscope(3D-XRM)to obtained spatial distribution and 3D morphological characteristics of residual bubbles in mold flux under different basicity of liquid slag,different temperatures,and different holding times.The results indicate that as basicity of slag increases from 0.52 to 1.03,temperature increases from 1423 to 1573 K,the viscosity of slag decreases,the floating rate of bubbles increases.In addition,when holding time increases from 10 to 30 s,the bubbles floating distance increases,and the volume fraction and average equivalent sphere diameter of the bubbles solidified in the mold flux gradually decreases.In one word,increasing the basicity,temperature,and holding time leading to an increase in the removal rate of bubbles especially for the large.These findings of bubbles escape behavior provide valuable insights into optimizing low basicity mold flux for high-Mn high-Al steels.

Theoretical study of Ni-like Ag 13.9 nm TCE x-ray laser driven by two picosecond pulses

The Ni-like Ag 13.9 nm x-ray laser has been previously demonstrated that the higher gain near critical surface contributes little to the amplification of the x-ray laser because of severe refraction. In this paper, the transient collision excitation （TCE） Ni-like Ag 13.9 nm x-ray laser is simulated, driven by two 3 ps short pulse preceded by a 330 ps long prepulse, optimization of the peak to peak delay time of the two short pulses is made to get the best results. Simulation indicates that by producing lowly ionized preplasma with smoothly varying electron density, it is possible to decrease electron density gradient in higher density region, and thus higher gains near this region could be utilized, and if the main short pulse is delayed by 900ps, local gains where electron density larger than - 4 × 10^20 cm^-3 could be utilized.

Fully diagnosing the spatial properties of X-ray lasers

Based on the moiré effect and the Fresnel diffraction theory, a novel technique for diagnosing the beam properties is presented and analyzed, which is especially suitable for X-ray lasers. The method makes it possible, in a one-shot experimental measurement, to determine the beam quality factor M2, the effective radius of curvature, the beam width, the far-field divergence, and the waist location and radius as well as the spatial coherence and its evolution. Numerical simulation proves the validity of the method. Note that the novel moiré technique opens an efficient road, for the first time, to fully diagnose the spatial properties of X-ray lasers.

Soft X-ray laser observation of femtosecond-laser-driven ablation of tungsten

Ablation dynamics of tungsten irradiated with a 70 fs laser pulse is investigated with X-ray interferometry and X-ray imaging using a 13.9 nm soft X-ray laser of 7 ps pulse duration. The evolution of high-density ablation front of tungsten （i.e., W） is presented. The ablation front expands to ~120 nm above the original target surface at 160 ps after femtosecond-laser irradiation with an expansion speed of approximately 750 m/s. These results will provide important data for understanding ablation properties of W, which is a candidate material of the first wall of magnetic confinement fusion reactors.

Testifying experiment of the multi-pulse phenomena of capillary discharge soft-X-ray laser

In a capillary discharge experiment for the neon-like argon lasing, we have proposed an experimental scheme to verify that the multi-spike of X-ray diode （XRD） signal is a multi-pulse laser or is a reflection of the laser pulse in the XRD. The ceramic capillary has an inner diameter of 3 mm and a length of 200 mm. At the gas pressure of 28 Pa and discharge current of 27 kA, stable lasing has been realized. The experimental results prove that the multi-spike of XRD signal is a reflection of the electromagnetic signal produced by the laser pulse in the XRD. The improved electrocircuit scheme of the XRD to minimize the reflection phenomena is also found.

First commissioning results of the coherent scattering and imaging endstation at the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser facility

The Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser(SXFEL)user facility project started in 2016 and is expected to be open to users by 2022.It aims to deliver ultra-intense coherent femtosecond X-ray pulses to five endstations covering a range of 100–620 eV for ultrafast X-ray science.Two undulator lines are designed and constructed,based on different lasing modes:self-amplified spontaneous emission and echo-enabled harmonic generation.The coherent scattering and imaging(CSI)endstation is the first of five endstations to be commissioned online.It focuses on high-resolution single-shot imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamic processes using coherent forward scattering techniques.Both the single-shot holograms and coherent diffraction patterns were recorded and reconstructed for nanoscale imaging,indicating the excellent coherence and high peak power of the SXFEL and the possibility of‘‘diffraction before destruction’’experiments at the CSI endstation.In this study,we report the first commissioning results of the CSI endstation.