Felicie Albert

Atomic inner-shell X-ray laser at 1.46 nanometres pumped by an X-ray free-electron laser

Since the invention of the laser more than 50 years ago, scientists have striven to achieve amplification on atomic transitions of increasingly shorter wavelength. The introduction of X-ray free-electron lasers makes it possible to pump new atomic X-ray lasers with ultrashort pulse duration, extreme spectral brightness and full temporal coherence. Here we describe the implementation of an X-ray laser in the kiloelectronvolt energy regime, based on atomic population inversion and driven by rapid K-shell photo-ionization using pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser. We established a population inversion of the Kα transition in singly ionized neon at 1.46 nanometres (corresponding to a photon energy of 849 electronvolts) in an elongated plasma column created by irradiation of a gas medium. We observed strong amplified spontaneous emission from the end of the excited plasma. This resulted in femtosecond-duration, high-intensity X-ray pulses of much shorter wavelength and greater brilliance than achieved with previous atomic X-ray lasers. Moreover, this scheme provides greatly increased wavelength stability, monochromaticity and improved temporal coherence by comparison with present-day X-ray free-electron lasers. The atomic X-ray lasers realized here may be useful for high-resolution spectroscopy and nonlinear X-ray studies.

Laser wakefield accelerator based light sources: potential applications and requirements

In this article we review the prospects of laser wakefield accelerators as next generation light sources for applications. This work arose as a result of discussions held at the 2013 Laser Plasma Accelerators Workshop. X-ray phase contrast imaging, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and nuclear resonance fluorescence are highlighted as potential applications for laser–plasma based light sources. We discuss ongoing and future efforts to improve the properties of radiation from plasma betatron emission and Compton scattering using laser wakefield accelerators for these specific applications.

Isotope-specific detection of low-density materials with laser-based monoenergetic gamma-rays.

What we believe to be the first demonstration of isotope-specific detection of a low-Z and low density object shielded by a high-Z and high-density material using monoenergetic gamma rays is reported. The isotope-specific detection of LiH shielded by Pb and Al is accomplished using the nuclear resonance fluorescence line of L7i at 478 keV. Resonant photons are produced via laser-based Compton scattering. The detection techniques are general, and the confidence level obtained is shown to be superior to that yielded by conventional x-ray and gamma-ray techniques in these situations.

Laser wakefield acceleration at reduced density in the self-guided regime

Experiments conducted using a 200 TW 60 fs laser have demonstrated up to 720 MeV electrons in the self-guided laser wakefield regime using pure helium gas jet targets. The self-trapped charge in a helium plasma was shown to fall off with decreasing electron density with a threshold at 2.5×1018 cm−3, below which no charge is measured above 100 MeV. Self-guiding, however, is shown to continue below this density limitation over distances of 14 mm with an exit spot size of 25 μm. Simulations show that injection of electrons at these densities can be assisted through ionization induced trapping in a mix of helium with 3% oxygen.

Chirped-pulse amplification with narrowband pulses.

We demonstrate a compact hyperdispersion stretcher and compressor pair that permit chirped-pulse amplification in Nd:YAG. We generate 750 mJ, 0.2 nm FWHM, 10 Hz pulses recompressed to an 8 ps near-transform-limited duration. The dispersion-matched pulse compressor and stretcher impart a chirp of 7300 ps/nm, in a 3 m x 1 m footprint.

Precision linac and laser technologies for nuclear photonics gamma-ray sourcesa)

Tunable, high precision gamma-ray sources are under development to enable nuclear photonics, an emerging field of research. This paper focuses on the technological and theoretical challenges related to precision Compton scattering gamma-ray sources. In this scheme, incident laser photons are scattered and Doppler upshifted by a high brightness electron beam to generate tunable and highly collimated gamma-ray pulses. The electron and laser beam parameters can be optimized to achieve the spectral brightness and narrow bandwidth required by nuclear photonics applications. A description of the design of the next generation precision gamma-ray source currently under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is presented, along with the underlying motivations. Within this context, high-gradient X-band technology, used in conjunction with fiber-based photocathode drive laser and diode pumped solid-state interaction laser technologies, will be shown to offer optimal performance for high gamma-ray spe...

High average power lasers for future particle accelerators

Lasers are of increasing interest to the accelerator community and include applications as diverse as stripping electrons from hydrogen atoms, sources for Compton scattering, efficient high repetition rate lasers for dielectric laser acceleration, peta-watt peak power lasers for laser wake field and high energy, short pulse lasers for proton and ion beam therapy. The laser requirements for these applications are briefly surveyed. State of the art of laser technologies with the potential to eventually meet those requirements are reviewed. These technologies include diode pumped solid state lasers (including cryogenic), fiber lasers, OPCPA based lasers and Ti:Sapphire lasers. Strengths and weakness of the various technologies are discussed along with the most important issues to address to get from the current state of the art to the performance needed for the accelerator applications. Efficiency issues are considered in detail as in most cases the system efficiency is a valuable indicator of the actual abi...

Self-modulated laser wakefield accelerators as x-ray sources

The development of a directional, small-divergence, and short-duration picosecond x-ray probe beam with an energy greater than 50 keV is desirable for high energy density science experiments. We therefore explore through particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations the possibility of using x-rays radiated by betatron-like motion of electrons from a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator as a possible candidate to meet this need. Two OSIRIS 2D PIC simulations with mobile ions are presented, one with a normalized vector potential a0 = 1.5 and the other with an a0 = 3. We find that in both cases direct laser acceleration (DLA) is an important additional acceleration mechanism in addition to the longitudinal electric field of the plasma wave. Together these mechanisms produce electrons with a continuous energy spectrum with a maximum energy of 300 MeV for a0 = 3 case and 180 MeV in the a0 = 1.5 case. Forward-directed x-ray radiation with a photon energy up to 100 keV was calculated for the a0 = 3 case and up to 12 keV for the a0 = 1.5 case. The x-ray spectrum can be fitted with a sum of two synchrotron spectra with critical photon energy of 13 and 45 keV for the a0 of 3 and critical photon energy of 0.3 and 1.4 keV for a0 of 1.5 in the plane of polarization of the laser. The full width at half maximum divergence angle of the x-rays was 62 x 1.9 mrad for a0 = 3 and 77 x 3.8 mrad for a0 = 1.5.

Three-dimensional theory of weakly nonlinear Compton scattering

Nonlinear effects are known to occur in light sources when the wiggler parameter, or normalized 4-potential, A=e−AμAμ/m0c, approaches unity. In this paper, it is shown that nonlinear spectral features can appear at arbitrarily low values of A if the fractional bandwidth of the undulator, Δϕ−1, is sufficiently small and satisfies the condition A2Δϕ∼1. Consequences for the spectral brightness of Compton scattering light sources are outlined. Compton and Thomson scattering theories are compared with the Klein–Nishina cross-section formula to highlight differences in the case of narrow band gamma-ray operation. A weakly nonlinear Compton scattering theory is developed in one (plane wave) and three (local plane wave approximation) dimensions. Analytical models are presented and benchmarked against numerical calculations solving the Lorentz force equation with a fourth-order Runge–Kutta algorithm. Finally, narrow band gamma-ray spectra are calculated for realistic laser and electron beams.

Measuring the angular dependence of betatron x-ray spectra in a laser-wakefield accelerator

This paper presents a new technique to measure the angular dependence of betatron x-ray spectra in a laser-wakefield accelerator. Measurements are performed with a stacked image plates spectrometer, capable of detecting broadband x-ray radiation up to 1 MeV. It can provide measurements of the betatron x-ray spectrum at any angle of observation (within a 40 mrad cone) and of the beam profile. A detailed description of our data analysis is given, along with comparison for several shots. These measurements provide useful information on the dynamics of the electrons are they are accelerated and wiggled by the wakefield.