Ultrafast x-ray diffraction using a streak-camera detector in averaging mode

We demonstrate an apparatus for measuring time-dependent x-ray diffraction. X-ray pulses from a synchrotron are diffracted by a pair of Si(111) crystals and detected with an x-ray streak camera that has single-shot resolution of better than 1 ps. The streak camera is driven by a photoconductive switch, which is triggered by 100-fs laser pulses at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The laser and the streak camera are synchronized with the synchrotron pulses. In the averaging mode, trigger jitter results in 2-ps temporal resolution. We measured the duration of 5-keV pulses from the Advanced Light Source synchrotron to be 70ps.     

激光加热碳、金平面靶等离子体膨胀过程

利用软X射线条纹相机与针孔成象装置相结合,测得了碳、金平面靶靶面X射线时、空分辨图象,从而推算出靶面等离子体膨胀平均速度分别为(碳):5.11×10⁷cm/s,(金):6.13×10⁷cm/s。实验用1.06μm的钕玻璃激光轰击靶面,X射线能谱范围为0.1—10keV。测量在激光功率密度≈10¹⁴W/cm²的情况下进行。 关键词：     

Reduction of jitter in streak-camera synchronization with picosecond laser pulses

A laser activated silicon switch generates the sweeping voltage for a picosecond streak camera. With a Photochron streak tube shot-to-shot jitter has been reduced to ?±15 ps for writting speeds in excess of 2×10⁸ ms^-1.     

A comparative study of the ionic keV X-ray line emission from plasma produced by the femtosecond,picosecond and nanosecond duration laser pulses

We report here an experimental study of the ionic keV X-ray line emission from magnesium plasma produced by laser pulses of three widely different pulse durations (FWHM) of 45 fs, 25 ps and 3 ns, at a constant laser fluence of ∼1.5 × 10⁴ J cm^− 2. It is observed that the X-ray yield of the resonance lines from the higher ionization states such as H- and He-like ions decreases on decreasing the laser pulse duration, even though the peak laser intensities of 3.5 × 10¹⁷ W cm^− 2 for the 45 fs pulses and 6.2 × 10¹⁴ W cm^− 2 for the 25 ps pulses are much higher than 5 × 10¹² W cm^− 2 for the 3 ns laser pulse. The results were explained in terms of the ionization equilibrium time for different ionization states in the heated plasma. The study can be useful to make optimum choice of the laser pulse duration to produce short pulse intense X-ray line emission from the plasma and to get the knowledge of the degree of ionization in the plasma.     

激光等离子体辐射温度时间特性测量研究

本文提出一种软X射线条纹相机与吸收膜相耦合测量激光等离子体辐射温度的实验方法,并且应用这个方法测量了平面金靶在1.053μm激光(LF-11^#激光装置)作用下,靶面功率密度约为10¹⁴W/cm²的辐射温度。对温度处理中存在的误差,以及把此方法推广到能谱的时间分辨和温度的空间分辨测量中的可能性进行了讨论。 关键词：     

Simple picosecond dye laser system pumped by a frequency doubled,optically compressed Q-switched mode-locked Nd:YAG laser

Using the frequency doubled output of the 3 ps pulses from a temporally compressed cw Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YAG laser, a simple synchronously pumped dye laser was constructed to give frequency tunable operation with short pulses in the 5–10 ps range and peak powers of ～ 15 kW. A circularly scanning streak camera operating in stroboscopic mode was also used to examine pulse formation in the dye laser.     

高强度二倍频激光辐照银薄膜靶的烧蚀和X光辐射实验研究

激光聚变物理实验中,背光透视照相是靶丸内爆动力学过程观测的重要方法. Ag是一种重要的背光材料, 激光辐照产生的等离子体可以产生强L线辐射, 研究其烧蚀和辐射特性, 对提高内爆靶丸背光透视照相的图像质量具有十分重要的意义.在神光II装置上, 采用第九路输出的2 ns, ～ 5× 10¹⁴ W/cm², 526.5 nm激光均匀辐照Ag薄膜靶, 实验研究了其烧蚀特性, 获得了银薄膜靶在激光烧蚀驱动下的飞行轨迹和飞行速度的数据. 实验结果与一维辐射流体力学模拟结果相符. 火箭模型对实验数据进行拟合, 得到了Ag材料的质量烧蚀速率和烧蚀压的数据. 采用平面晶体谱仪和X射线二极管探测器阵列观测等离子体的辐射特性, 获得了Ag等离子体辐射光谱和L线转换效率, 实验结果对激光聚变内爆靶丸背光照相的实验设计具有重要的参考价值.     

Generation of fast ions in femto-and picosecond laser plasmas at low intensities of the heating radiation

X-ray spectra from Teflon targets irradiated by laser pulses with a duration of 60 fs to 1 ps have been investigated experimentally. It is shown that, when the contrast of the laser pulse is sufficiently low, the effect of self-focusing of the main laser pulse in the plasma produced by the prepulse can significantly enhance the generation efficiency of fast particles. In this case, ions with energies as high as ～1 MeV are observed at relatively low laser intensities, q _las ≈ (4–6) × 10¹⁶ W/cm².     

Radiation characteristics and implosion dynamics of tungsten wire array Z-pinches on the YANG accelerator

We investigated the radiation characteristics and implosion dynamics of low-wire-number cylindrical tungsten wire array Z-pinches on the YANG accelerator with a peak current 0.8-1.1 MA and a rising time ～ 90 ns.The arrays are made up of(8-32)×5 μm wires 6/10 mm in diameter and 15 mm in height.The highest X-ray power obtained in the experiments was about 0.37 TW with the total radiation energy ～ 13 kJ and the energy conversion efficiency ～ 9%(24×5 μm wires,6 mm in diameter).Most of the X-ray emissions from tungsten Z-pinch plasmas were distributed in the spectral band of 100-600 eV,peaked at 250 and 375 eV.The dominant wavelengths of the wire ablation and the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability were found and analyzed through measuring the time-gated self-emission and laser interferometric images.Through analyzing the implosion trajectories obtained by an optical streak camera,the run-in velocities of the Z-pinch plasmas at the end of the implosion phase were determined to be about(1.3-2.1)×10 7 cm/s.     

一种用于荧光皮秒时间分辨光谱的测试系统

本文详细描述了一种由氩离子锁模激光器、样品池、分光系统及微微秒条纹相机构成的用于测试低强度荧光微微秒时间分辨光谱的系统。给出了典型样品的测试结果:时间分辨率为10ps,光谱范围为500Å—800Å。最后对测量结果进行了分析讨论。     

激光间接驱动冲击波实验测量

 在神光Ⅱ高功率激光装置上，利用光学条纹相机观测台阶靶背面的冲击波加热发光，对样品中冲击波的平面性和冲击波速度进行了测量。通过冲击波法测得的腔内辐射温度与软X光能谱仪的测量结果一致，验证了冲击波速度测量的可信度。实验结果表明：在8路能量各为260 J、波长为351 nm的激光注入腔靶时，激光间接驱动的冲击波阵面在288 mm范围内平面性较好，Al样品中的冲击波速度为3.15×10⁶ cm/s，对应的冲击波压力为1.66×10¹² Pa。     

飞秒激光激发空气电离的阈值研究

报道在脉宽50fs—22ps,波长800nm脉冲激光作用下的空气电离阈值的研究结果.利用探测等离子体发光信号的方法,实验测量了激发空气电离所需的阈值激光强度.结果表明,当激光脉冲宽度从50fs增加到22ps时,阈值光强I_th从8.7×10¹⁴W/cm²下降到2.7×10¹³W/cm²;I_th经历了由迅速降低逐渐发展为缓慢降低的过程.在50fs—1p 关键词： 飞秒激光 阈值 多光子电离 碰撞电离     

Enhanced soft X-ray emission from carbon nanofibers irradiated with ultra-short laser pulses

A comparative experimental study of the X-ray emission in the water-window spectral region has been performed using carbon nanofibers (CNFs) of different sizes and graphite plate targets, irradiated with ultra-short (Ti:sapphire) laser pulses. More than an order of magnitude enhancement in the X-ray yield is observed from CNFs of 60-nm diameter with respect to graphite targets. The X-ray emission from CNFs of 160-nm diameter was also high. The integrated X-ray yield of these carbon-based targets scales with the laser intensity (I _L) as I_L ^{~ 1.3-1.4}I_{\mathrm{L}}^{\sim 1.3-1.4} in the intensity range of 4×10¹⁶–4×10¹⁷ W/cm². The effect of the laser pulse duration on the X-ray emission from the CNFs was also studied by varying the pulse duration from 45 fs up to 3 ps at a constant fluence of 2×10⁴ J/cm². The optimum laser pulse duration for maximum X-ray emission increases with the diameter of the CNFs used. The results are explained from physical considerations of heating and hydrodynamic expansion of the CNF plasma in which resonance field enhancement takes place while passing through two times the critical density. The results add to the efforts towards achieving an efficient low-cost water-window X-ray source for microscopy.     

飞秒激光激发空气电离的阈值研究

报道在脉宽50fs—22ps，波长800nm脉冲激光作用下的空气电离阈值的研究结果.利用探测等离子体发光信号的方法，实验测量了激发空气电离所需的阈值激光强度.结果表明，当激光脉冲宽度从50fs增加到22ps时，阈值光强I_th从8.7×10¹⁴W/cm²下降到2.7×10¹³W/cm²；I_th经历了由迅速降低逐渐发展为缓慢降低的过程.在50fs—1p     

X-ray-line plasma satellites of ions in solid target plasmas produced by picosecond laser pulse

The X-ray lines of ions in a solid target interacting with picosecond laser pulses of moderate intensity (2×10¹⁷ W/cm²) were measured on the “Neodim” laser facility. X-ray Ly _α emission spectra of hydrogen-like fluorine ions were observed. Satellite lines were also observed, evidencing the presence of intense plasma oscillations. The positions and separation between the satellites allow their assignment to the intense electrostatic oscillations with an amplitude larger than 10⁸ V/cm and a frequency of about 7× 10¹⁴ s^?1 that is noticeably lower than the laser frequency ω_las～1.8×10¹⁵ s^?1. It is suggested that these oscillations may be due to strong plasma turbulence caused by the development of plasma oscillations of the Bernstein-mode type under the action of a strong magnetic field generated in plasma. The experimental results are compared with the calculated spectra of multicharged ions.     

Optical anisotropy as a technique for studying ultrafast phase transformations at solid surfaces

A new technique for testing long-range order in high-absorption anisotropic crystals has been developed using conversion of an incident p-(s-)wave to an s-(p-)wave due to optical anisotropy. The technique yields time-resolved measurements of parameters related to phase transformations in thin (10⁻⁶–10⁻⁵ cm) layers with a high resolution (10⁻¹² s). Using picosecond laser pulses and an “Agat” streak camera, the technique has been applied to an experimental investigation of melting and recrystallization kinetics at zinc and graphite surfaces. It was found that the process of melting takes less than 3 ps and the recrystallization time is about 100 ps. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 2162–2173 (June 1998)     

Table-top kHz hard X-ray source with ultrashort pulse duration for time-resolved X-ray diffraction

The interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with solid state targets is studied concerning the production of short X-ray pulses with photon energies up to about 10 keV. The influence of various parameters such as pulse energy, repetition rate of the laser system, focusing conditions, the application of prepulses, and the chirp of the laser pulses on the efficiency of this highly nonlinear process is examined. In order to increase the X-ray flux, the laser pulse energy is increased by a 2nd multipass amplifier from 750 μJ to 5 mJ. By applying up to 4 mJ of the pulse energy a X-ray flux of 4×10¹⁰ Fe K _α photons/s or 2.75×10¹⁰ Cu K _α photons/s are generated. The energy conversion efficiency is therefore calculated to η _Fe≈1.4×10⁻⁵ and η _Cu≈1.0×10⁻⁵. The X-ray source size is determined to 15×25 μm². By focusing the produced X-rays using a toroidally bent crystal a quasi-monochromatic X-ray point source with a diameter of 56 μm×70μm is produced containing ≈10⁴ Fe K _α1 photons/s which permits the investigation of lattice dynamics on a picosecond or even sub-picosecond time scale. The lattice movement of a GaAs(111) crystal is shown as a typical application.     

Tunable,sub-nanosecond KrF-Raman laser in the ultraviolet

A 0.5 cm^–1 bandwidth injection-locked KrF laser pumps a rare-gas Brillouin cell to produce a reflected pulse with a leading edge risetime of 1 ns, tunable from 248.1 to 248.7 nm. Consistent with Lamb theory of laser amplifiers, subsequent excimer amplification of this pulse produces an intense 500 ps spike on the pulse leading edge. Stimulated Raman scattering then separates the spike from the parent pulse, yielding a tunable short pulse at the first Stokes (S ₁) wavelength. Varying the Raman cell length results in a variable Raman threshold and an adjustable short pulse duration: 250 ps pulses at energies of 3–4 mJ at 268 nm with a 50 cm methane cell and 350 ps, 5 mJ pulses from a 100 cm cell are measured with a streak camera. First pass Raman conversion of the spike toS ₁ followed by second pass backward Raman amplification, where the parent 248 nm pulse serves as the pump beam for the reflectedS ₁ pulse, yields simultaneousS ₁ pulses of 20–25 mJ in the 800 ps range andS ₂ pulses of 550 ps at 5–6 mJ near 290 nm. This laser will avoid collision effects during laser excitation and enable quantitative, single pulse imaging of OH radicals in turbulent combustion because of its high pulse energy.     

A pulse-train laser driven XUV source for picosecond pump–probe experiments in the water window

We describe the development of a table top soft X-ray source based on a laser produced plasma. The plasma is produced by a Nd:YLF pulse-train laser which delivers pulse trains of up to 400 pulses each of about 25 ps duration. Number and energy of the micropulses are fully computer controlled adjustable for an optimum interaction with a rotating solid target. Spectral, spatial and temporal characteristics of the X-ray emission from Mylar and copper targets have been studied. A calibrated back-illuminated CCD camera together with a slit grating spectrograph were utilized for the measurement of the absolute soft X-ray photon fluxes. The temporal measurements were performed using a streak camera while the plasma size was measured with a zone plate. An application of the system in a X-ray absorption experiment is shown. The advantages of the system in view of possible optical pump and soft X-ray probe experiments will be discussed.     

一种变象管分幅/扫描的高时间分辨光谱测量方法

本文详细介绍了西安光机所正在研制中的一种变象管瞬时光谱测量系统,它由WDG30型光栅光谱头与JTG 305型变象管分幅/扫描摄影机组成。文中给出了系统的总体设计考虑、变象管及其控制和主要性能参数。