No Arabic abstract
We demonstrate that a mm-scale free electron laser can operate in the X-ray range, in the interaction between a moderately relativistic electron bunch, and a transverse high intensity optical lattice. The corrugated light-induced ponderomotive potential acts simultaneously as a guide and as a low-frequency wiggler, triggering stimulated Raman scattering. The gain law in the small signal regime is derived in a fluid approach, and confirmed from Particle-In-Cell simulations. We describe the nature of bunching, and discuss the saturation properties. The resulting all-optical Raman X-ray laser opens perspectives for ultra-compact coherent light sources up to the hard X-ray range.
A scheme for an X-ray free electron laser is proposed, based on a Raman process occurring during the interaction between a moderately relativistic bunch of free electrons, and twin intense short pulse lasers interfering to form a transverse standing wave along the electron trajectories. In the high intensity regime of the Kapitza-Dirac effect, the laser ponderomotive potential forces the electrons into a lateral oscillatory motion, resulting in a Raman scattering process. I show how a parametric process is triggered, resulting in the amplification of the Stokes component of the Raman-scattered photons. Experimental operating parameters and implementations, based both on LINAC and Laser Wakefield Acceleration techniques, are discussed.
The complex physics of the interaction between short pulse high intensity lasers and solids is so far hardly accessible by experiments. As a result of missing experimental capabilities to probe the complex electron dynamics and competing instabilities, this impedes the development of compact laser-based next generation secondary radiation sources, e.g. for tumor therapy [Bulanov2002,ledingham2007], laboratory-astrophysics [Remington1999,Bulanov2015], and fusion [Tabak2014]. At present, the fundamental plasma dynamics that occur at the nanometer and femtosecond scales during the laser-solid interaction can only be elucidated by simulations. Here we show experimentally that small angle X-ray scattering of femtosecond X-ray free-electron laser pulses facilitates new capabilities for direct in-situ characterization of intense short-pulse laser plasma interaction at solid density that allows simultaneous nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution, directly verifying numerical simulations of the electron density dynamics during the short pulse high intensity laser irradiation of a solid density target. For laser-driven grating targets, we measure the solid density plasma expansion and observe the generation of a transient grating structure in front of the pre-inscribed grating, due to plasma expansion, which is an hitherto unknown effect. We expect that our results will pave the way for novel time-resolved studies, guiding the development of future laser-driven particle and photon sources from solid targets.
In the field of beam physics, two frontier topics have taken center stage due to their potential to enable new approaches to discovery in a wide swath of science. These areas are: advanced, high gradient acceleration techniques, and x-ray free electron lasers (XFELs). Further, there is intense interest in the marriage of these two fields, with the goal of producing a very compact XFEL. In this context, recent advances in high gradient radio-frequency cryogenic copper structure research have opened the door to the use of surface electric fields between 250 and 500 MV/m. Such an approach is foreseen to enable a new generation of photoinjectors with six-dimensional beam brightness beyond the current state-of-the-art by well over an order of magnitude. This advance is an essential ingredient enabling an ultra-compact XFEL (UC-XFEL). In addition, one may accelerate these bright beams to GeV scale in less than 10 meters. Such an injector, when combined with inverse free electron laser-based bunching techniques can produce multi-kA beams with unprecedented beam quality, quantified by ~50 nm-rad normalized emittances. These beams, when injected into innovative, short-period (1-10 mm) undulators uniquely enable UC-XFELs having footprints consistent with university-scale laboratories. We describe the architecture and predicted performance of this novel light source, which promises photon production per pulse of a few percent of existing XFEL sources. We review implementation issues including collective beam effects, compact x-ray optics systems, and other relevant technical challenges. To illustrate the potential of such a light source to fundamentally change the current paradigm of XFELs with their limited access, we examine possible applications in biology, chemistry, materials, atomic physics, industry, and medicine which may profit from this new model of performing XFEL science.
We present a cylindrically curved GaAs x-ray spectrometer with energy resolution $Delta E/E = 1.1cdot 10^{-4}$ and wave-number resolution of $Delta k/k = 3cdot 10^{-3}$, allowing plasmon scattering at the resolution limits of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray free-electron laser. It spans scattering wavenumbers of 3.6 to $5.2/$AA in 100 separate bins, with only 0.34% wavenumber blurring. The dispersion of 0.418~eV/$13.5,mu$m agrees with predictions within 1.3%. The reflection homogeneity over the entire wavenumber range was measured and used to normalize the amplitude of scattering spectra. The proposed spectrometer is superior to a mosaic HAPG spectrometer when the energy resolution needs to be comparable to the LCLS seeded bandwidth of 1~eV and a significant range of wavenumbers must be covered in one exposure.
An optics-free method is proposed to generate X-ray radiation with spatially variant states of polarization via an afterburner extension to a Free Electron Laser (FEL). Control of the polarization in the transverse plane is obtained through the overlap of different coherent transverse light distributions radiated from a bunched electron beam in two consecutive orthogonally polarised undulators. Different transverse profiles are obtained by emitting at a higher harmonic in one or both of the undulators. This method enables the generation of beams structured in their intensity, phase, and polarization - so-called Poincare beams - at high powers with tunable wavelengths. Simulations are used to demonstrate the generation of two different classes of light with spatially inhomogeneous polarization - cylindrical vector beams and full Poincare beams.