Baohan Zhang

0.56 GeV Laser Electron Acceleration in Ablative-Capillary-Discharge Plasma Channel

A high-quality electron beam with a central energy of 0.56 GeV, an energy spread of 1.2% rms, and a divergence of 0.59 mrad rms was produced by means of a 4 cm ablative-capillary-discharge plasma channel driven by a 3.8 J 27 fs laser pulse. This is the first demonstration of electron acceleration with an ablative capillary discharge wherein the capillary is stably operated in vacuum with a simple system triggered by a laser pulse. This result of the generation of a high-quality beam provides the prospects to realize a practical accelerator based on laser-plasma acceleration.

Opacity Studies of Silicon in Radiatively Heated Plasma

Measurements of the opacity of silicon at high temperature and high density are reported. A silicon dioxide foam was heated by eight nanosecond laser beams while a backlighter X-ray source was produced with a picosecond laser. Absorptions of the 1-2 transitions of Si XII through Si VI were observed in the wavelength range from 6.6 to 7.1 A. The experimental results are simulated with theoretical calculations under local thermodynamic equilibrium using a detailed level accounting model and can be reproduced in general when the effects of the oxygen in the SiO2 are taken into account.

Acceleration and guiding of fast electrons by a nanobrush target

Laser interaction with a nanobrush target plasma is investigated at the SILEX-I laser facility [X. F. Wei et al., J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 112, 032010 (2008)] with a laser of intensity 7.9×1018 W/cm2. Highly collimated fast electron beams with yields of more than three times higher than that from the planar target can be produced. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation confirms that a layered surface structure can increase the efficiency of laser energy absorption, and the resulting fast electrons are tightly collimated and guided by the plasma layers to a cross section of about the laser spot size.

Elimination of higher-order diffraction using zigzag transmission grating in soft x-ray region

We present a realization of the sinusoidal transmission function using a series of zigzag-profiled strips where the transmission takes on the binary values 0 and 1 in a two-dimensional distribution. A zigzag transmission grating of 1000 line/mm has been fabricated and demonstrated on the soft x-ray beam of synchrotron radiation. The axial single-order diffraction indicates that the zigzag transmission grating is adequate for spectroscopic application.

Opacity measurement of a gold plasma at Te = 85 eV

The opacity of a gold plasma at the temperature of 85 eV and density of 0.02 g/cm3 was measured over the energy range from 150 eV to 1200 eV. The gold sample was heated by thermal x-ray radiation generated with a foam-baffled gold cavity. The sample transmission was obtained from the backlight, absorption and self-emission spectra measured by a time-gated, spatially resolved grating spectrometer, with the backlight and absorption spectra being measured simultaneously in a single shot and the self-emission in another shot. The temperature and density of the gold absorber were determined by the hydrodynamic simulation with Multi-1D code, which was partially tested by the reemission radiative flux measurements of the heated sample. This work permits the first test of opacity models over the photon energy range that dominates the Rosseland mean opacity at the temperature of interest for the inertial confinement fusion.

L- and M-shell absorption measurements of radiatively heated Fe plasma

Measurements of iron-plasma absorption spectrum over 150–1200 eV photon energy range were reported at temperature T = (72 ± 4) eV. The electron temperature was diagnosed with the absorption spectrum of aluminum mixed with iron. The density was not diagnosed directly but obtained from a radiative hydrodynamic simulation with the Multi-1D code. The broad photon energy range enables simultaneous observation of the L-shell and M-shell transitions that dominate the radiation transport at this temperature. The spectrally resolved transmission data were compared to the detailed-configuration-accounting model calculations and reasonable agreement was found.

Atomic-scale decoration for improving the pitting corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steels

Stainless steels are susceptible to the localized pitting corrosion that leads to a huge loss to our society. Studies in the past decades confirmed that the pitting events generally originate from the local dissolution in MnS inclusions which are more or less ubiquitous in stainless steels. Although a recent study indicated that endogenous MnCr2O4 nano-octahedra within the MnS medium give rise to local nano-galvanic cells which are responsible for the preferential dissolution of MnS, effective solutions of restraining the cells from viewpoint of electrochemistry are being tantalizingly searched. Here we report such a galvanic corrosion can be greatly resisted via bathing the steels in Cu2+-containing solutions. This chemical bath generates Cu2−δS layers on the surfaces of MnS inclusions, invalidating the nano-galvanic cells. Our study provides a low-cost approach via an atomic scale decoration to improve the pitting corrosion resistance of stainless steels in a volume-treated manner.

Quasi suppression of higher-order diffractions with inclined rectangular apertures gratings

Advances in the fundamentals and applications of diffraction gratings have received much attention. However, conventional diffraction gratings often suffer from higher-order diffraction contamination. Here, we introduce a simple and compact single optical element, named inclined rectangular aperture gratings (IRAG), for quasi suppression of higher-order diffractions. We show, both in the visible light and soft x-ray regions, that IRAG can significantly suppress higher-order diffractions with moderate diffraction efficiency. Especially, as no support strut is needed to maintain the free-standing patterns, the IRAG is highly advantageous to the extreme-ultraviolet and soft x-ray regions. The diffraction efficiency of the IRAG and the influences of fabrication constraints are also discussed. The unique quasi-single order diffraction properties of IRAG may open the door to a wide range of photonic applications.

X-ray ultraviolet absorption measurements of laser-driven Au/CH/Al multilayers

X-ray ultraviolet absorption measurements of aluminum plasma at high temperature and high density are reported. A sample plasma was created by direct laser irradiation of a multilayered foil consisting of Au, CH, and Al. Observations were made using the method of self-backlighting spectroscopy. Simulations were performed with one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics code to compute the backlight profile as well as the time history of the density and temperature in the sample. By comparing the measured absorption spectra with detailed-term-accounting calculations at Te=120eV and ρ=0.1g∕cm3, it is found that the major spectral features predicted by calculations have been observed. Even better agreement between the experiment and the simulated absorption spectra was obtained by temporally averaging the radiation-hydrodynamics result over the backlight profile. This experiment shows that it is possible to measure high density and high temperature opacity by a laser-driven multilayer experiment.

Spectroscopic absorption measurement of a low-Z plasma

Low-Z plasmas have been produced by x-ray radiative heating of a low-Z sample on the “Xingguang II” laser facility. High-resolution transmission spectra of the low-Z plasma (CHO) have been measured by using a flat field grating spectrometer. Absorption lines of oxygen and carbon ions in the region from 1.6 nm to 5.0 nm have been observed clearly and identified. The unresolved transition array model (UTA) has been introduced to calculate the transmission spectra of the CHO plasma. The measured transmission spectra have been compared with the calculated ones and the results of other works.