A review of Ni-like X-ray laser experiments undertaken using the VULCAN laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Recent progress using the VULCAN laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to pump X-ray lasing in nickel-like ions is reviewed. Double pulse pumping with ∼100 ps pulses has been shown to produce significantly greater X-ray laser output than single pulses of duration 0.1–1 ns. With double pulse pumping, the main pumping pulse interacts with a pre-formed plasma created by a pre-pulse. The efficiency of lasing increases as there is a reduced effect of refraction of the X-ray laser beam due to smaller density gradients and larger gain volumes, which enable propagation of the X-ray laser beam along the full length of the target. The record shortest wavelength saturated laser at 5.9 nm has been achieved in Ni-like dysprosium using double pulse pumping of 75 ps duration from the VULCAN laser. A variant of the double pulse pumping using a single ∼100 ps laser pulse and a superimposed short ∼1 ps pulse has been found to further increase the efficiency of lasing by reducing the effects of over-ionisation during the gain period. The record shortest wavelength saturated laser pumped by a short ∼1 ps pulse has been achieved in Ni-like samarium using the VULCAN laser operating in chirped pulse amplified (CPA) mode. Ni-like samarium lases at 7.3 nm.     

低泵浦能量类氖锗等离子体软X射线激光实验

提出并采用具有一定时间间隔的双束脉冲加热锗薄膜靶方法，在泵浦激光能量１００Ｊ，靶长１０ｍｍ的实验条件下，观察到波长１９．６１ｎｍ和２３．６３ｎｍ两条类氖锗３ｓ－３ｐ激光跃迁线。１９．６１ｎｍ（Ｊ＝０－１）的激光跃迁线发射强度较２３．６３ｎｍ（Ｊ＝２－１）激光线的强度大，其发散角较后者小。     

Femtosecond laser ablation of silver foil with single and double pulses

The average ablation depth per pulse of silver foil by 130 fs laser pulses has been measured in vacuum over a range of three orders of magnitude of pulse fluence up to 900 J cm⁻². In addition, double pulses with separations up to 3.4 ns have been used to probe time scales of relevance for femtosecond ablation. The double pulse ablation depth, when each pulse fluence is 0.7 J cm⁻², falls to that of a single pulse as the pulse separation is increased from 0 ps to 700 ps. This time scale decreases to only 4 ps as the fluence is increased to 11 J cm⁻². It then jumps to 500 ps across a transition fluence where the slope of the ablation depth versus logarithmic fluence characteristic changes abruptly to a higher value. In addition, for pulse separations near 1000 ps, the second pulse can cause re-deposition of ejecta from the first pulse resulting in a double pulse ablation depth only 40% that of the first pulse alone. This has important implications for the interpretation of double pulse femto-LIBS intensities. Our results suggest that the optical properties of nano or mesoparticles play a significant role in double pulse ablation with large pulse separations.     

Prepulse dependence ofJ=0−1 lasing at 32.6 nm in neon-like titanium

The dependence of the intensity of the 3p—3s,J = 0–1 lasing line at 32.6 nm in neon-like titanium on the prepulse level has been investigated experimentally. Titanium slabs were irradiated with 1.315 µm/450 ps pulses from the Asterix IV iodine laser using a defined prepulse of 5.2 ns before the main pulse. It is found that for pump energies close to the minimum energy for which lasing is observed, a prepulse level of order 0.5% gives the highest XUV laser intensity, whereas a higher prepulse level, of order 10% and more, is required for optimum XUV lasing far above the threshold. For a 2.7 cm long titanium target lasing was observed down to a pump irradiance of 2.5 TW/cm² (50 J/450 ps) for the 0.5% prepulse.     

Characterization of the 46.9-nm soft X-ray laser beam from a capillary discharge

Intense lasing had been obtained from argon plasma in the soft X-ray region from a capillary discharge plasma system. Different diagnostics have been used to characterize the lasing properties by recording the temporal, spatial, and spectral profiles of the emission. The divergence measurement indicates that the soft X-ray laser beam has good directionality with a divergence of 3.5 mrad. The spectrum of the laser beam measured using a transmission grating showed intense lasing line at 46.9 nm. Diffraction orders as high as 10th orders were observed. The temporal profile recorded with a vacuum diode showed a distinct laser peak with a pulse width ~1.2 ns (FWHM). In addition, the coherence of the X-ray laser beam was also confirmed from the high-contrast interference fringes (visibility ~85 %) recorded using double slits.     

Short pulse,x-ray preionization of a high pressure XeCl gas discharge laser

A short pulse (35 ns), high energy X-ray source, driven by a coaxial Blumlein pulser, has been used to preionize a 2.5 × 3 × 30 cm³ active volume XeCl avalanche discharge laser. A maximum output energy of 1 J has been extracted at 0.9% efficiency (including X-ray preionization). Measurements have been performed to investigate the influence of the X-ray pulse timing on laser output and discharge quality.     

Generation of picosecond UV pulses by stimulated anti-Stokes Raman scattering

Picosecond stimulated anti-Stokes Raman scattering of hydrogen gas in the ultraviolet region has been studied, using the second harmonic of a modelocked Nd³⁺: YAG laser as an incident pulse (25 ps, 532 nm, 10 mJ). Good conversion efficiency for higher-order anti-Stokes lines has been realized, yielding 2 μJ (200 kW, 10 ps) output for the 8th one at 192 nm. Some features of transient stimulated Raman scattering have been examined and discussed.     

激发态之间的电离与复合过程对类氖锗19.6nm X射线激光增益系数的影响

考察了激发态之间的电离与复合过程对等离子体状态的影响,并对其原因进行了细致的分析,分别考察了对1.0ns,100ps和5ps激光驱动的类氖锗19.6nm Ｘ射线激光增益系数的影响.研究表明,对于5ps激光驱动的瞬态机理X射线激光来讲,因增益区处在高密度区,所以,激发态之间的电离与复合过程对X射线激光将不可以忽略.对于1.0ns和100ps激光驱动的亚稳态机理X射线激光来讲,在电子密度小于等于5×10²⁰cm^－3的区域,忽略激发态之间的电离与复合使增益的时间半高全 关键词： X射线激光 矩阵分块法 类氖锗 双电子激发态     

Two-photon-pumped amplified spontaneous emission and cavity lasing of an organic dye HEASPS in PHEMA polymer

Two-photon-absorption (TPA)-induced upconverted amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and cavity lasing of a styrylpyridinium dye: trans-4-[p-(N-hydroxyethyl-N-ethylamino)styryl]-N-methylpyridinium p-toluene sulfonate (abbreviated as HEASPS) in poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (abbreviated as PHEMA) polymer were observed under a picosecond pump condition. The spectral and temporal behaviors of TPA-induced fluorescence, ASE and cavity lasing were studied. The cavity lasing with a total oscillation time of more than 200 ps was achieved when pumped with 1064-nm, 50-ps laser irradiation. The population inversion could persist for three times longer than the duration of the pump pulse. The gain coefficients of the dye-doped polymer at various wavelengths were calculated based on cavity lasing spectra and one-photon fluorescence spectra. PACS 78.20.Ek; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Re; 78.47.+p     

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

The Ni-like Ag 13.9nm 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 13.9nm x-ray laser is simulated, driven by two 3ps short pulse preceded by a 330ps 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 ～ 4×10²⁰cm^-3 could be utilized.     

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 3mm and a length of 200mm.At the gas pressure of 28Pa and discharge current of 27kA, 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.     

双短脉冲驱动类镍钐X光激光的模拟

 介绍了模拟产生类镍离子电子碰撞激发X光激光全过程的系列程序。利用它模拟了英国RAL实验室的双短脉冲驱动类镍钐X光激光实验。与实验结果进行了比较。还研究了不同弯曲度的靶及驱动激光功率密度不均匀性对输出激光强度的影响。对驱动激光的脉宽、主脉冲的功率密度以及主脉冲的延迟时间等进行了优化设计。     

Thermal characteristics of double-layer thin film target ablated by femtosecond laser pulses

Thermal characteristics of tightly-contacted copper--gold double-layer thin film target under ablation of femtosecond laser pulses are investigated by using a two-temperature theoretical model. Numerical simulation shows that electron heat flux varies significantly on the boundary of copper--gold film with different maximal electron temperature of 1.15×10³ K at 5 ps after ablating laser pulse in gold and copper films, which can reach a balance around 12.6 ps and 8.2 ps for a single and double pulse ablation, respectively, and in the meantime, the lattice temperature difference crossing the gold--copper interface is only about 0.04×10³ K at the same time scale. It is also found that electron--lattice heat relaxation time increases linearly with laser fluence in both single and double pulse ablation, and a sudden change of the relaxation time appears after the laser energy density exceeds the ablation threshold.     

High-repetition-rate grazing-incidence pumped x-ray laser operating at 18.9 nm

We have demonstrated a 10 Hz Ni-like Mo x-ray laser operating at 18.9 nm with 150 mJ total pump energy by employing a novel pumping scheme. The grazing-incidence scheme is described, where a picosecond pulse is incident at a grazing angle to a Mo plasma column produced by a slab target irradiated by a 200 ps laser pulse. This scheme uses refraction of the short pulse at a predetermined electron density to increase absorption to pump a specific gain region. The higher coupling efficiency inherent to this scheme allows a reduction in the pump energy where 70 mJ long pulse energy and 80 mJ short pulse energy are sufficient to produce lasing at a 10 Hz repetition rate. Under these conditions and by optimizing the delay between the pulses, we achieve strong amplification and close to saturation for 4 mm long targets.     

Review of collisional excitation neon-like and nickel-like soft X-ray lasers pumped by multiple infrared laser pulses at the Institute of Laser Engineering,Osaka University

We report on the soft X-ray laser developments performed at the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University especially for the collisional excitation X-ray lasers at wavelengths between 25 nm and 4 nm. The performance of neon-like and nickel-like ion X-ray lasing pumped by a train of short laser pulses has been investigated. We have also demonstrated double pass amplification using a soft X-ray multi-layer mirror at wavelengths of 19.6 nm and 7.9 nm. Based on these results and experimental technique, two targets were placed in series to double the gain length. Two opposing laser beams irradiated the double targets with a suitable time difference for quasi-traveling wave pumping. The double target amplification was successfully demonstrated with two beam irradiation for Ag, Nd, Yb, Hf and Ta lasing. The estimated absolute photon flux from the saturated amplification Ag X-ray laser was ∼300 μJ. Based on the experimental results, we also discuss the applications of an X-ray laser as a super-high brightness soft X-ray source.     

200 kV闪光照相测试系统

介绍了一种基于Marx发生器原理设计的200 kV闪光照相测试系统,该系统具有延时功能,可按照实验要求,在预定时刻产生脉冲X射线进行闪光照相测试。设计了一台10级同轴结构的Marx发生器,采用了正负极充电,极间电容耦合为Z形回路的Marx发生器线路,利用开关与屏蔽外筒间的结构电容来锐化高压脉冲的输出,同时采用紧凑性、低电感设计获得窄脉冲的输出。在充电电压为25 kV的情况下,75 的负载上获得了脉宽小于100 ns、幅度大于200 kV的高压脉冲,通过高压电缆驱动闪光X射线二极管, 在距光源25 cm处获得了剂量大于910-6 C/kg、脉冲宽度约为70 ns的闪光X射线。     

Supercontinuum generation at 1.55μm using highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber for telecommunication and medical applications

In this paper, we present a theoretical calculation of a highly nonlinear germanium (Ge) doped photonic crystal fiber with all-normal group velocity dispersion to design a supercontinuum (SC) light source at 1.55 μm. By doping 3% higher refractive index Ge inside the host silica, the nonlinear coefficient is increased to a value as large as 60.5 W^?1 km^?1 at 1.55 μm. A 10 dB bandwidth of a 120 nm SC spectrum for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and a 10 dB bandwidth of a 190 nm SC spectrum for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse have been found using the same fiber length of 200m and input optical power of 18 W. The coherent lengths of the generated SC light sources are found to be 8.8 μm for a 2.5 ps input optical pulse and 5.6 μm for a 1.0 ps input optical pulse. Therefore, the highest longitudinal resolution at 1.55 μm is found to be about 4.0 μm for biological tissues.     

Distributed feedback dye laser holographically induced in improved organic–inorganic photocurable nanocomposites

Distributed feedback (DFB) lasing in permanent volume transmission gratings formed in a laser dye-doped organic–inorganic nanocomposite has been investigated. DFB laser cavities were fabricated using one-step two-beam holographic exposure of Pyrromethene 567 (PM567) doped photopolymerizable acrylate monomers containing inorganic (LaPO₄) nanoparticles. Compared to the formulation previously utilized, the material composition presented provides longer lifetime of the laser. Spectral and polarization properties, input–output and stability characteristics of the laser output have been investigated by varying the material composition and the patterning parameters. DFB lasing emission of the second and the third diffraction orders has been demonstrated. The spectral linewidth of ∼0.08 nm has been observed at a pump energy threshold of about 0.2 μJ/pulse for the second-order DFB lasing when pumped with 532 nm 500 ps laser pulses. Spectral tuning of the lasing output over ∼56 and ∼7 nm was obtained by varying the grating period and the content of inorganic nanoparticles in the polymer matrix, respectively.     

Multi-photon-pumped stimulated emission from ZnO nanowires: A time-resolved study

In this work, we study temporal evolution of multi-photon-pumped stimulated emission from ZnO nanowires. In addition to second harmonic generation, ultraviolet stimulated emission is observed in ZnO nanowires under femtosecond pulse excitation at 800 nm. Sharp emission peaks appear when excitation flux reaches a threshold of 80 mJ/cm², which can be interpreted as lasing action in self-formed nanowire microcavities. Temporal evolution of the emission captured by Kerr shutter technique shows strong excitation-power dependence. The dynamic trace of stimulated emission exhibits a fast decay with a lifetime about 4.5 ps at intermediate excitation (∼100 mJ/cm²) and a lifetime about 2 ps at high excitation (>160 mJ/cm²). The difference in the lifetime can be attributed to different gain mechanisms related to excitonic interaction and electron-hole plasma, respectively.     

High-energy diode-pumped picosecond regenerative amplification at 999 nm in wavelength with a cryogenically cooled Yb:LuLiF(4) crystal

A diode-pumped, cryogenically cooled Yb:LuLiF(4) regenerative amplifier has been developed for the first time to our knowledge. A chirped-seed pulse was amplified and compressed in the regenerative amplifier, simultaneously, which generated approximately 6 mJ, 13 ps pulses at 999 nm in wavelength without a pulse compressor. Simultaneous lasing at 999 and 1024 nm, respectively, was demonstrated, which could be used for different frequency generation in the terahertz region.