0000000000003880
AUTHOR
Thomas Kuehl
showing 19 related works from this author
An Improved Double-Pulse Non-Normal Incidence Pumping Geometry for Transient Collisionally Excited Soft X-Ray Lasers
2009
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…
Double-pulse single-beam grazing-incidence pumping
2011
The paper reports on the optimization of a table-top nickel-like molybdenum transient collisionally excited soft x-ray laser (SXRL) at 18.9 nm, performed by double-pulse single beam grazing incidence pumping (DGRIP) [1]. This scheme allows for the first time the full control of the pump laser parameters including the pre-pulse duration, optimally generating the SXRL amplifier under grazing incidence. The single beam geometry of collinear double-pulse propagation guarantees the ideal overlap of the pre- and main pulse from shot to shot, resulting in a more efficient, highly stable SXRL output. SXRL energies up to 2.2 µJ are obtained with a total pump energy less than 1 J for several hours at…
Short-wavelength soft-x-ray laser pumped in double-pulse single-beam non-normal incidence
2010
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.
Towards high photon-number soft x-ray lasers
2011
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…
Transient collisionally excited X-ray laser in nickel-like zirconium pumped with the PHELIX laser facility
2004
A transient collisionally excited X-ray laser has been put into operation using the front end of the PHELIX laser system as a pump laser. Strong lasing at 22 nm has been observed in nickel-like zirconium.
LASERIX: an open facility for developments of Soft X-ray and EUV lasers and applications
2011
In this paper we report the perspectives of the development of the XUV laser sources and applications using High-power laser facilities. We focus our paper on the present status of the French LASERIX facility and more especially about 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). Finally, we present the scientific perspectives of X-ray laser sources developments using these laser facilities.
Versatile High-Energy and Short-Pulse Operation of PHELIX
2009
PHELIX (Petawatt High Energy Laser for Heavy Ion Experiments) is a hybrid Ti:Sapphire / Nd:Glass laser system using large aperture amplifiers from the former Nova and Phebus laser systems at Livermore and Limeil, respectively, designed to offer pulse energies in access of 2 kJ and output power in the petawatt range. It is aiming mainly on combined experiments in plasma physics [2] and atomic physics [3] together with the GSI accelerator facility, and in preparation for the new FAIR facility for antiproton and ion research. Both nanosecond and sub-picosecond pulses can be supplied. Presently pulse energies up to 500 J are used, at pulse durations between 2 and 25 ns. Compressed pulses down t…
Strong-field physics using lasers and relativistic heavy ions at the high-energy storage ring hesr at fair
2014
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.
Tuning of High-Order Harmonics for Soft X-Ray Laser Seeding
2011
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.
Laser driven parametric amplification in the xuv and soft-x-ray spectral range
2011
We present the first experimental realization of a new x-ray laser scheme based on strong-field parametric amplification of high-order harmonic radiation. With a simple semi-classical model, we can identify the most important experimental parameters, the spectral range and the small signal gain in gases. Using a single amplifier stage a small signal gain of 8000 has been obtained in Argon for the spectral range of 40-50 eV, using 350 fs, 7 mJ pulses at 1.05 µm. In Helium, we observed a small signal gain of 280 around 300 eV using 6 fs, 1.5 mJ pulses at 800 nm.
Laser-driven amplification of soft X-rays by parametric stimulated emission in neutral gases
2010
The high-order harmonics of short laser pulses created in a nonlinear medium are a useful source of extreme-ultraviolet and soft-X-ray radiation. A newly discovered phenomenon that amplifies this emission even further could improve the efficiency of short-wavelength light sources.
Laser driven X-ray parametric amplification in neutral gases—a new brilliant light source in the XUV
2011
Abstract In this paper we present the experimental setup and results showing a new type of strong-field parametric amplification of high-order harmonic radiation. With a simple semi-classical model, we can identify the most important experimental parameters, the spectral range and the small signal gain in gases. Using a single stage amplifier, a small signal gain of 8000 has been obtained in argon for the spectral range of 40–50 eV, using 350 fs, 7 mJ pulses at 1.05 μm. An outlook for an experiment employing a double stage gas system will be given.
Radiation pressure-assisted acceleration of ions using multi-component foils in high-intensity laser–matter interactions
2013
Experimental results on the acceleration of protons and carbon ions from ultra-thin polymer foils at intensities of up to 6x10(19)Wcm(-2) are presented revealing quasi-monoenergetic spectral characteristics for different ion species at the same time. For carbon ions and protons, a linear correlation between the cutoff energy and the peak energy is observed when the laser intensity is increased. Particle-in-cell simulations supporting the experimental results imply an ion acceleration mechanism driven by the radiation pressure as predicted for multi-component foils at these intensities.
Characterization of a 10Hz double-pulse non-normal incidence pumped transient collisional Ni-like molybdenum soft x-ray laser for applications
2009
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.
Laser driven parametric amplification of xuv and soft-x-rays in neutral gases
2010
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.
Gain lifetime measurement of a Ni-like Ag soft X-ray laser
2012
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
Strong field amplification of XUV: phase matching aspects
2011
The dependence of the yield of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) on several important experimental parameters has been successfully modeled in the last 20 years by taking into account the single atom response and propagation effects. We extended this description by adding a stimulated emission process and named it x-ray parametric amplification (XPA). Beyond the super-quadratic increase of the XUV signal, which can be explained only in a limited pressure range by HHG theory, other observed characteristics like exponential growth, gain narrowing, strong blue-shift, beam divergence, etc. and their dependence on laser intensity and gas pressure can be explained accurately only by the new XP…
Diagnostics for studies of novel laser ion acceleration mechanisms.
2014
Diagnostic for investigating and distinguishing different laser ion acceleration mechanisms has been developed and successfully tested. An ion separation wide angle spectrometer can simultaneously investigate three important aspects of the laser plasma interaction: (1) acquire angularly resolved energy spectra for two ion species, (2) obtain ion energy spectra for multiple species, separated according to their charge to mass ratio, along selected axes, and (3) collect laser radiation reflected from and transmitted through the target and propagating in the same direction as the ion beam. Thus, the presented diagnostic constitutes a highly adaptable tool for accurately studying novel accelera…
Enhanced radiation pressure-assisted acceleration by temporally tuned counter-propagating pulses
2014
Within the last decade, laser-ion acceleration has become a field of broad interest. The possibility to generate short proton- or heavy ion bunches with an energy of a few tens of MeV by table-top laser systems could open new opportunities for medical or technical applications. Nevertheless, today's laser-acceleration schemes lead mainly to a temperature-like energy distribution of the accelerated ions, a big disadvantage compared to mono-energetic beams from conventional accelerators. Recent results 111 of laser-ion acceleration using radiation-pressure appear promising to overcome this drawback. In this paper, we demonstrate the influence of a second counter-propagating laser pulse intera…