0000000000003872

AUTHOR

Bernhard Zielbauer

Tuning the high-order harmonic lines of a Nd:Glass laser for soft x-ray laser seeding

Taking advantage of the non-adiabatic blue-shift of high-order harmonics generated by a fixed frequency Nd:Glass laser system, we are able to report more than 50 % coverage of the XUV spectral range between 18 nm and 35 nm. The generated harmonic lines are capable of seeding Ni-like Y, Zr and Mo soft x-ray lasers and others.

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High-brilliance double-stage soft x-ray laser pumped by multiple pulses applied in grazing incidence

A new compact scheme for a double-stage seeded x-ray laser is demonstrated. This laser is offering greatly improved beam quality and brilliance making it a useful tool for applications.

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An Improved Double-Pulse Non-Normal Incidence Pumping Geometry for Transient Collisionally Excited Soft X-Ray Lasers

An optimized pumping geometry for transient collisionally excited soft X-ray lasers is presented, similar to the geometry proposed by [1]. In contrast to usual approaches, where a nanosecond pre-pulse is assumed to provide the optimal plasma preparation and a picosecond pulse performs the final heating- and excitation process, two pulses of equal duration in the range around 10 picoseconds are applied. Both pulses are produced in the front end of the CPA pump laser. They are focused onto the target with the same spherical mirror under non-normal incidence geometry, optimized for efficient traveling wave excitation for the main-pulse. A first experiment was performed on Ni-like palladium (14…

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Short-wavelength soft-x-ray laser pumped in double-pulse single-beam non-normal incidence

We demonstrated a $7.36$ nm Ni-like samarium soft-x-ray laser, pumped by $36$ J of a neodymium:glass chirped-pulse amplification laser. Double-pulse single-beam non-normal-incidence pumping was applied for efficient soft-x-ray laser generation. In this case, the applied technique included a single-optic focusing geometry for large beam diameters, a single-pass grating compressor, traveling-wave tuning capability, and an optimized high-energy laser double pulse. This scheme has the potential for even shorter-wavelength soft-x-ray laser pumping.

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Towards high photon-number soft x-ray lasers

We present an experimental design to independently pump two soft X-ray laser media suitable for a seed-amplifier configuration. Both the seed and the amplifier target are operated in the TCE scheme utilizing the DGRIP technique with its intrinsic travelling wave excitation. Controlled injection of the seed X-ray laser into the amplifier medium is realized via a spherical XUV mirror. The experimental design is perfectly appropriate for benchmarking combined simulations of the ARWEN and DeepOne code. A first experiment at the PHELIX laser utilizing this scheme has been conducted, demonstrating signs of amplification and allowing for the direct measurement of the gain life time of a Ni-like si…

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Strong-field physics using lasers and relativistic heavy ions at the high-energy storage ring hesr at fair

The HESR high-energy ion storage ring at FAIR will provide unprecedented possibilities for strong-field physics using novel laser sources on relativistic heavy ions. An overview on the planning will be given.

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A beamline for x-ray laser spectroscopy at the experimental storage ring at GSI

By combining an x-ray laser (XRL) with a heavy-ion storage ring, precision laser spectroscopy of the fine-structure splitting in heavy Li-like ions will be possible. An initial study has been performed to determine the feasibility of a first experiment at the experimental storage ring at GSI in Darmstadt, which also has great potential for the experiments planned for FAIR. We plan to perform a unique, direct and precise measurement of a fine-structure transition in a heavy Li-like ion. Such a measurement will test state-of-the-art atomic structure calculations in strong fields. This endeavour will require that the existing infrastructure is complemented by a dedicated beamline for the XRL. …

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Tuning of High-Order Harmonics for Soft X-Ray Laser Seeding

Within this work we present results of an experimental campaign studying the influence of the adiabatic and non-adiabatic blue shift on high-order harmonic (HH) radiation spectra. The results demonstrate that we are able to spectrally tune the HH radiation to cover more than 50% of the spectrum between 17 nm and 35 nm, paving the way to performing injection-seeded soft X-ray laser (SXRL) experiments with Mo, Zr and Y.

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Demonstration of an efficient pumping scheme for a 7.36-nm Ni-like samarium soft x-ray laser

The demonstration of a 7.36 nm Ni-like Sm soft x-ray laser pumped by 36 J of a Nd:glass chirped pulse amplification laser is presented. Double-pulse single-beam non-normal incidence pumping was applied for the efficient soft x-ray laser generation. Here the applied technique included a new single optic focusing geometry for large beam diameters, a single-pass grating compressor traveling-wave tuning capability and an optimized high energy laser double-pulse. This scheme has the potential for even shorter wavelength soft x-ray laser pumping.

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Characterization of a 10Hz double-pulse non-normal incidence pumped transient collisional Ni-like molybdenum soft x-ray laser for applications

Stable and reliable operation of a nickel-like molybdenum transient collisional soft x-ray laser at 18.9 nm demonstrated and studied with a 10Hz Ti:sapphire laser system proves the suitability of the double-pulse non-normal incidence pumping geometry for table-top high repetition soft x-ray lasers and broadens the attractiveness of x-ray lasers as sources of coherent radiation for various applications. X-ray laser emission with pulse energies well above 1 μJ is obtained for several hours at 10Hz repetition-rate without re-alignment under optimized double pumping pulse parameters including energy ratio, time delay, pulse duration and line focus width.

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Laser driven parametric amplification of xuv and soft-x-rays in neutral gases

We present the first theoretical description and also experimental evidence for the amplification of XUV and soft-X-ray radiation by parametric stimulated emission in neutral gases driven by near-IR laser pulses reaching small-signal-gain up to 8000.

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Gain lifetime measurement of a Ni-like Ag soft X-ray laser

International audience; Experimental results of a two-stage Ni-like Ag soft X-ray laser operated in a seed-amplifier configuration are presented. Both targets were pumped applying the double-pulse grazing incidence technique with intrinsic travelling wave excitation. The injection of the seed X-ray laser into the amplifier target was realized by a spherical mirror. The results show amplification of the seed X-ray laser and allow for a direct measurement of the gain lifetime. The experimental configuration is suitable for providing valuable input for computational simulations. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America

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Laser XUV haute cadence pompé par laser Titane : Saphir, vers la station LASERIX

Nous presentons des resultats recents de laser X collisionnel transitoire pompe en incidence rasante a haut taux de repetition. Ils ont ete obtenus a partir du laser de pompe Titane:Saphir 30 TW disponible sur l'installation europeenne du LLC a Lund (Suede). Nous avons demontre lors de cette experience qu'il etait possible d'obtenir en routine pres de 3 microjoule par impulsion a 18,9nm avec seulement J d'energie de pompe infrarouge. Nous avons plus particulierement etudie l'influence de l'angle de rasance sur cible de l'impulsion laser qui vient pomper le plasma, quelques centaines de picosecondes apres la premiere impulsion responsable de sa creation. Un systeme d'imagerie XUV a haute res…

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<title>New PW stretcher-compressor design for PHELIX laser</title>

With PHELIX (Petawatt High Energy Laser for heavy Ion EXperiments) a high energy/ultra-high intensity laser system is currently under construction at the GSI (Gesellschaft fur SchwerIonenforschung, Germany). In combination with the high current high energy ion accelerator facility this will provide worldwide unique experimental opportunities in the field of dense plasma physics and inertial fusion research. In the long pulse mode the laser system will provide laser pulses of up to 5 kJ in 1-10 ns pulses. In the high intensity mode pulse powers in excess of 1 PW will be achieved. For this the well known technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA) will be implemented. A new CPA stretcher-c…

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Enhancement of the laser-driven proton source at PHELIX

High power laser science and engineering 8, e24 (2020). doi:10.1017/hpl.2020.23

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Perspectives of XUV sources development on LASERIX facility, ILE, and ELI

In this paper we present the perspectives of the development of the XUV laser sources using High-power laser facilities. We focus our paper on the present statuts of the LASERIX facility and especially its role in the development of the XUV laser sources considering the French "Institut de la Lumiere Extreme" (ILE) and the potential European project Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI).

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