Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Femtosecond soft x-ray lasing in dense collisionaly-pumped plasma

Adeline Kabacinski, Fabien Tissandier, Julien Gautier, Jean-Philippe Goddet, Igor Andriyash, Philippe Zeitoun, and Stéphane Sebban*

Eduardo Oliva

Michaela Kozlová

  • Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA-Paristech, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 828 Bv des Maréchaux, 91762 Palaiseau, France

  • Instituto de Fusiòn Nuclear “Guillermo Velarde” and Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, E.T.S.I. Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

  • ELI Beamlines Project, Institute of Physics CAS, Praha 8, and Czech Republic Institute of Plasma Physics CAS, 182 00 Praha 8, Czech Republic

  • *stephane.sebban@ensta-paris.fr

Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032009 – Published 18 July, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032009

Abstract

We report the first experimental measurement of a strong pulse shortening of a seeded plasma-based soft x-ray laser at high electron densities. As a consequence of the gain gating caused by subsequent collisional ionization, the duration drops from 1.4 ps to an unprecedented value of 520 fs RMS when the electron density increases from 4 to 7.6×1019cm−3. These measurements, performed with an original single-shot method, are in good agreement with results from 3D Maxwell-Bloch simulations.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (44)

  1. K. Sokolowski-Tinten, C. Blome, J. Blums, A. Cavalleri, C. Dietrich, A. Tarasevitch, I. Uschmann, E. Förster, M. Kammler, M. H. von Hoegen, and D. von der Linde, Femtosecond X-ray measurement of coherent lattice vibrations near the Lindemann stability limit, Nature (London) 422, 287 (2003).
  2. E. Gagnon, P. Ranitovic, X.-M. Tong, C. L. Cocke, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, and A. S. Sandhu, Soft X-ray-driven femtosecond molecular dynamics, Science 317, 1374 (2007).
  3. H. N. Chapman, S. P. Hau-Riege, M. J. Bogan, S. Bajt, A. Barty, S. Boutet, S. Marchesini, M. Frank, B. W. Woods, W. H. Benner, R. A. London, U. Rohner, A. Szöke, E. Spiller, T. Möller, C. Bostedt, D. A. Shapiro, M. Kuhlmann, R. Treusch, E. Plönjes et al., Femtosecond time-delay X-ray holography, Nature (London) 448, 676 (2007).
  4. B. Rus, T. Mocek, A. R. Präg, M. Kozlová, G. Jamelot, A. Carillon, D. Ros, D. Joyeux, and D. Phalippou, Multimillijoule, highly coherent X-ray laser at 21 nm operating in deep saturation through double-pass amplification, Phys. Rev. A 66, 063806 (2002).
  5. P. W. Wachulak, M. C. Marconi, R. A. Bartels, C. S. Menoni, and J. J. Rocca, Soft X-ray laser holography with wavelength resolution, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B: Opt. Phys. 25, 1811 (2008).
  6. T. Helk, E. Berger, S. Jamnuch, L. Hoffmann, A. Kabacinski, J. Gautier, F. Tissandier, J.-P. Goddet, H.-T. Chang, J. Oh, C. D. Pemmaraju, T. A. Pascal, S. Sebban, C. Spielmann, and M. Zuerch, Table-top extreme ultraviolet second harmonic generation, Sci. Adv. 7, eabe2265 (2021).
  7. J. Filevich, J. J. Rocca, E. Jankowska, E. C. Hammarsten, K. Kanizay, M. C. Marconi, S. J. Moon, and V. N. Shlyaptsev, Two-dimensional effects in laser-created plasmas measured with soft X-ray laser interferometry, Phys. Rev. E 67, 056409 (2003).
  8. A. Rockwood, Y. Wang, S. Wang, M. Berrill, V. N. Shlyaptsev, and J. J. Rocca, Compact gain-saturated X-ray lasers down to 6.85 nm and amplification down to 5.85 nm, Optica 5, 257 (2018).
  9. B. E. Lemoff, C. P. Barty, and S. E. Harris, Femtosecond-pulse-driven, electron-excited XUV lasers in eight-times-ionized noble gases, Opt. Lett. 19, 569 (1994).
  10. F. Tissandier, J. Gautier, J.-P. Goddet, A. Kabacinski, S. Sebban, J. Nejdl, M. Kozlová, and G. Maynard, Two-Color Soft X-Ray Lasing in a High-Density Nickel-like Krypton Plasma, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 133902 (2020).
  11. J. J. Rocca, B. A. Reagan, C. Baumgarten, Y. Wang, S. Wang, M. Pedicone, M. Berrill, V. N. Shlyaptsev, C. N. Kyaw, L. Yin, H. Wang, M. C. Marconi, and C. S. Menoni, Progress in high repetition rate soft X-ray laser development and pump lasers at Colorado State University, X-ray Lasers and Coherent X-ray Sources: Development and Applications, Vol. 10243 (SPIE, USA, 2017).
  12. Y. Wang, M. Berrill, F. Pedaci, M. M. Shakya, S. Gilbertson, Z. Chang, E. Granados, B. M. Luther, M. A. Larotonda, and J. J. Rocca, Measurement of 1-ps soft X-ray laser pulses from an injection-seeded plasma amplifier, Phys. Rev. A 79, 023810 (2009).
  13. A. Klisnick, J. Kuba, D. Ros, R. Smith, G. Jamelot, C. Chenais-Popovics, R. Keenan, S. J. Topping, C. L. S. Lewis, F. Strati, G. J. Tallents, D. Neely, R. Clarke, J. Collier, A. G. MacPhee, F. Bortolotto, P. V. Nickles, and K. A. Janulewicz, Demonstration of a 2-ps transient X-ray laser, Phys. Rev. A 65, 033810 (2002).
  14. E. Oliva, M. Fajardo, L. Li, M. Pittman, T. T. T. Le, J. Gautier, G. Lambert, P. Velarde, D. Ros, S. Sebban, and P. Zeitoun, A proposal for multi-tens of GW fully coherent femtosecond soft X-ray lasers, Nat. Photonics 6, 764 (2012).
  15. P. Amendt, D. C. Eder, and S. C. Wilks, X-Ray Lasing by Optical-Field-Induced Ionization, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 2589 (1991).
  16. H. C. Kapteyn, Photoionization-pumped X-ray lasers using ultrashort-pulse excitation, Appl. Opt. 31, 4931 (1992).
  17. A. Depresseux, E. Oliva, J. Gautier, F. Tissandier, J. Nejdl, M. Kozlová, G. Maynard, J. P. Goddet, A. Tafzi, A. Lifschitz, H. T. Kim, S. Jacquemot, V. Malka, K. T. Phuoc, C. Thaury, P. Rousseau, G. Iaquaniello, T. Lefrou, A. Flacco, B. Vodungbo et al., Table-top femtosecond soft X-ray laser by collisional ionization gating, Nat. Photonics 9, 817 (2015).
  18. S. Sebban, T. Mocek, D. Ros, L. Upcraft, P. Balcou, R. Haroutunian, G. Grillon, B. Rus, A. Klisnick, A. Carillon, G. Jamelot, C. Valentin, A. Rousse, J. P. Rousseau, L. Notebaert, M. Pittman, and D. Hulin, Demonstration of a Ni-Like Kr Optical-Field-Ionization Collisional Soft X-Ray Laser at 32.8 nm, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 253901 (2002).
  19. M. C. Chou, P. H. Lin, C. A. Lin, J. Y. Lin, J. Wang, and S. Y. Chen, Dramatic Enhancement of Optical-Field-Ionization Collisional-Excitation X-Ray Lasing by an Optically Preformed Plasma Waveguide, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 063904 (2007).
  20. E. Oliva, A. Depresseux, M. Cotelo, A. Lifschitz, F. Tissandier, J. Gautier, G. Maynard, P. Velarde, and S. Sebban, Hydrodynamic evolution of plasma waveguides for soft X-ray amplifiers, Phys. Rev. E 97, 023203 (2018).
  21. P. Zeitoun, G. Faivre, S. Sebban, T. Mocek, A. Hallou, M. Fajardo, D. Aubert, P. Balcou, F. Burgy, D. Douillet, S. Kazamias, G. de Lachèze-Murel, T. Lefrou, S. le Pape, P. Mercère, H. Merdji, A. S. Morlens, J. P. Rousseau, and C. Valentin, A high-intensity highly coherent soft X-ray femtosecond laser seeded by a high harmonic beam, Nature (London) 431, 426 (2004).
  22. Y. Wang, E. Granados, F. Pedaci, D. Alessi, B. Luther, M. Berrill, and J. J. Rocca, Phase-coherent, injection-seeded, table-top soft X-ray lasers at 18.9 nm and 13.9 nm, Nat. Photonics 2, 94 (2008).
  23. Y. Kobayashi, O. Yoshihara, Y. Nabekawa, K. Kondo, and S. Watanabe, Femtosecond measurement of high-order harmonic pulse width and electron recombination time by field ionization, Opt. Lett. 21, 417 (1996).
  24. Y. Kobayashi, T. Sekikawa, Y. Nabekawa, and S. Watanabe, 27-fs extreme ultraviolet pulse generation by high-order harmonics, Opt. Lett. 23, 64 (1998).
  25. T. Sekikawa, T. Katsura, S. Miura, and S. Watanabe, Measurement of the Intensity-Dependent Atomic Dipole Phase of a High Harmonic by Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 193902 (2002).
  26. J. M. Schins, P. Breger, P. Agostini, R. C. Constantinescu, H. G. Muller, G. Grillon, A. Antonetti, and A. Mysyrowicz, Observation of Laser-Assisted Auger Decay in Argon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2180 (1994).
  27. A. Bouhal, R. Evans, G. Grillon, A. Mysyrowicz, P. Breger, P. Agostini, R. C. Constantinescu, H. G. Muller, and D. von der Linde, Cross-correlation measurement of femtosecond noncollinear high-order harmonics, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14, 950 (1997).
  28. M. Hentschel, R. Kienberger, C. Spielmann, G. A. Reider, N. Milosevic, T. Brabec, P. Corkum, U. Heinzmann, M. Drescher, and F. Krausz, Attosecond metrology, Nature (London) 414, 509 (2001).
  29. K. Oguri, H. Nakano, T. Nishikawa, and N. Uesugi, Cross-correlation measurement of ultrashort soft X-ray pulse emitted from femtosecond laser-produced plasma using optical field-induced ionization, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, 4506 (2001).
  30. K. Oguri, T. Ozaki, T. Nishikawa, and H. Nakano, Femtosecond-resolution measurement of soft X-ray pulse duration using ultra-fast population increase of singly charged ions induced by optical-field ionization, Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics 78, 157 (2004).
  31. K. Oguri, T. Nishikawa, T. Ozaki, and H. Nakano, Sampling measurement of soft X-ray-pulse shapes by femtosecond sequential ionization of Kr+ in an intense laser field, Opt. Lett. 29, 1279 (2004).
  32. O. Krupin, M. Trigo, W. F. Schlotter, M. Beye, F. Sorgenfrei, J. J. Turner, D. A. Reis, N. Gerken, S. Lee, W. S. Lee, G. Hays, Y. Acremann, B. Abbey, R. Coffee, M. Messerschmidt, S. P. Hau-Riege, G. Lapertot, J. Lüning, P. Heimann, R. Soufli et al., Temporal cross-correlation of X-ray free electron and optical lasers using soft X-ray pulse induced transient reflectivity, Opt. Express 20, 11396 (2012).
  33. U. Teubner, U. Wagner, and E. Förster, Sub-10 fs gating of optical pulses, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 34, 2993 (2001).
  34. R. Keenan, J. Dunn, P. K. Patel, D. F. Price, R. F. Smith, and V. N. Shlyaptsev, High-Repetition-Rate Grazing-Incidence Pumped X-Ray Laser Operating at 18.9 nm, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 103901 (2005).
  35. M. Grünig, C. Imesch, F. Staub, and J. Balmer, Saturated X-ray lasing in Ni-like Sn at 11.9 nm using the GRIP scheme, Optics Communication 282, 267 (2009).
  36. S. Handa, T. Kimura, H. Mimura, H. Yumoto, S. Matsuyama, Y. Sano, K. Tamasaku, Y. Nishino, M. Yabashi, T. Ishikawa, and K. Yamauchi, Extended knife-edge method for characterizing sub-10-nm X-ray beams, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 616, 246 (2009).
  37. F. Tissandier, S. Sebban, M. Ribiere, J. Gautier, P. Zeitoun, G. Lambert, A. B. Sardinha, J.-P. Goddet, F. Burgy, T. Lefrou, C. Valentin, A. Rousse, O. Guilbaud, A. Klisnick, J. Nejdl, T. Mocek, and G. Maynard, Observation of spectral gain narrowing in a high-order harmonic seeded soft X-ray amplifier, Phys. Rev. A 81, 063833 (2010).
  38. E. Oliva, M. Cotelo, J. C. Escudero, A. González-Fernández, A. Sanchís, J. Vera, S. Vicéns, and P. Velarde, DAGON: a 3D Maxwell-Bloch code, Proc. SPIE 10243, X-ray Lasers and Coherent X-ray Sources: Development and Applications, Vol. 10243 (SPIE, USA, 2017).
  39. E. Oliva, E. V. Fernandez-Tello, M. Cotelo, P. M. Gil, J. A. Moreno, and P. Velarde, 3D multi-scale modelling of plasma-based seeded soft X-ray lasers, The European Physical Journal D 75, 290 (2021).
  40. F. Ogando and P. Velarde, Development of a radiation transport fluid dynamic code under AMR scheme, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer 71, 541 (2001).
  41. M. Cotelo, P. Velarde, A. de la Varga, D. Portillo, C. Stehlé, U. Chaulagain, M. Kozlova, J. Larour, and F. Suzuki-Vidal, Simulation of radiative shock wave in Xe of last PALS experiments, High Energy Density Phys. 17, 68 (2015), 10th International Conference on High Energy Density Laboratory Astrophysics.
  42. R. Lehe, M. Kirchen, I. A. Andriyash, B. B. Godfrey, and J.-L. Vay, A spectral, quasi-cylindrical and dispersion-free particle-in-cell algorithm, Comput. Phys. Commun. 203, 66 (2016).
  43. B. Cros, T. Mocek, I. Bettaibi, G. Vieux, M. Farinet, J. Dubau, S. Sebban, and G. Maynard, Characterization of the collisionally pumped optical-field-ionized soft X-ray laser at 41.8nm driven in capillary tubes, Phys. Rev. A 73, 033801 (2006).
  44. F. Tuitje, P. M. Gil, T. Helk, J. Gautier, F. Tissandier, J.-P. Goddet, A. Guggenmos, U. Kleineberg, S. Sebban, E. Oliva, C. Spielmann, and M. Zürch, Nonlinear ionization dynamics of hot dense plasma observed in a laser-plasma amplifier, Light Sci. Appl. 9, 187 (2020).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation