Revealing the second harmonic generation in a femtosecond laser-driven cluster-based plasma by analyzing shapes of Ar XVII spectral lines.

We present experiments dealing with a femtosecond laser-driven cluster-based plasma, where by analyzing the nonlinear phenomenon of satellites of spectral lines of Ar XVII, we revealed the nonlinear phenomenon of the generation of the second harmonic of the laser frequency. For performing this analysis we developed new results in the theory of satellites of spectral lines. From such lineshape analysis we found, in particular, that the efficiency of converting the short (40 fs) intense (3x10¹8 W/cm²) incident laser light into the second harmonic was 2%. This result is in the excellent agreement with the 2-Dimensional Particle-In-Cell (2D PIC) simulation that we also performed. There is also an order of magnitude agreement between the thresholds for the SHG found from the line shape analysis and from the 2D PIC simulations.

3D visualization of XFEL beam focusing properties using LiF crystal X-ray detector.

Here, we report, that by means of direct irradiation of lithium fluoride a (LiF) crystal, in situ 3D visualization of the SACLA XFEL focused beam profile along the propagation direction is realized, including propagation inside photoluminescence solid matter. High sensitivity and large dynamic range of the LiF crystal detector allowed measurements of the intensity distribution of the beam at distances far from the best focus as well as near the best focus and evaluation of XFEL source size and beam quality factor M(2). Our measurements also support the theoretical prediction that for X-ray photons with energies ~10 keV the radius of the generated photoelectron cloud within the LiF crystal reaches about 600 nm before thermalization. The proposed method has a spatial resolution ~0.4-2.0 µm for photons with energies 6-14 keV and potentially could be used in a single shot mode for optimization of different focusing systems developed at XFEL and synchrotron facilities.

A doubly curved elliptical crystal spectrometer for the study of localized x-ray absorption in hot plasmas.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the diagnosis of plasmas over a wide range of both temperature and density. However, such a measurement is often limited to probing plasmas with temperatures well below that of the x-ray source in order to avoid object plasma emission lines from obscuring important features of the absorption spectrum. This has excluded many plasmas from being investigated by this technique. We have developed an x-ray spectrometer that provides the ability to record absorption spectra from higher temperature plasmas than the usual approach allows without the risk of data contamination by line radiation emitted by the plasma under study. This is accomplished using a doubly curved mica crystal which is bent both elliptically and cylindrically. We present here the foundational work in the design and development of this spectrometer along with initial results obtained with an aluminum x-pinch as the object plasma.

Determination of the size and structure of an X-pinch x-ray source from the diffraction pattern produced by microfabricated slits.

X-pinch plasma emits subnanosecond bursts of x rays in the 3-10-keV energy range from a small source. As such, it has been used for high-resolution point-projection imaging of small, dense, rapidly changing plasmas as well as for submillimeter-thick biological samples. In addition to the effect of source size on geometric resolution, a small source size can also provide high spatial coherence of x rays, enabling the rays to be used for imaging weakly absorbing objects with excellent spatial resolution by a method called phase-contrast imaging. To determine the source size, we microfabricated gold slits and imaged them in a point-projection radiography configuration. The shape of the shadow image pattern depends on the source size and energy band of the x rays, the shape and material used for the slits, and the geometry of the experiment. Experimental results have been compared with wave-optics calculations of the expected image pattern as a function of all the parameters listed above. For example, assuming a Gaussiansource distribution, an effective source size in 2.5-4.1 A radiation (1 A = 0.1 nm) of 1.2 +/- 0.5 microm (full width at half-maximum) was determined for a 20-microm Mo wire X pinch. Characterization of the size and structure of the x-ray bursts from X pinches by the use of different wire materials and different slit structures is made.