George D. Tsakiris

Route to intense single attosecond pulses

A feasibility study is presented for the generation of single attosecond pulses using harmonics produced by planar targets irradiated at high intensities. The investigation focuses on the interaction of a few-optical cycles, carrier-envelope phase controlled, near-infrared laser pulse with an overdense plasma. The results obtained using an one-dimensional particle-in-cell code indicate that at laser intensities of 1020 W cm−2 a single sub-fs pulse can be generated in the 20–70 eV spectral range with an efficiency of a few per cent and with 10−3 to 10−4 for higher photon energies.

Generating positrons with femtosecond-laser pulses

Utilizing a femtosecond table-top laser system, we have succeeded in converting via electron acceleration in a plasma channel, low-energy photons into antiparticles, namely positrons. The average intensity of this source of positrons is estimated to be equivalent to 2x10(8) Bq and it exhibits a very favorable scaling for higher laser intensities. The advent of positron production utilizing femtosecond laser pulses may be the forerunner to a table-top positron source appropriate for applications in material science, and fundamental physics research like positronium spectroscopy

Laser -driven soft-X-ray undulator source

High-intensity X-ray sources such as synchrotrons and free-electron lasers need large particle accelerators to drive them. The demonstration of a synchrotron X-ray source that uses a laser-driven particle accelerator could widen the availability of intense X-rays for research in physics, materials science and biology. Synchrotrons and free-electron lasers are the most powerful sources of X-ray radiation. They constitute invaluable tools for a broad range of research1; however, their dependence on large-scale radiofrequency electron accelerators means that only a few of these sources exist worldwide. Laser-driven plasma-wave accelerators2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 provide markedly increased accelerating fields and hence offer the potential to shrink the size and cost of these X-ray sources to the university-laboratory scale. Here, we demonstrate the generation of soft-X-ray undulator radiation with laser-plasma-accelerated electron beams. The well-collimated beams deliver soft-X-ray pulses with an expected pulse duration of ∼10 fs (inferred from plasma-accelerator physics). Our source draws on a 30-cm-long undulator11 and a 1.5-cm-long accelerator delivering stable electron beams10 with energies of ∼210 MeV. The spectrum of the generated undulator radiation typically consists of a main peak centred at a wavelength of ∼18 nm (fundamental), a second peak near ∼9 nm (second harmonic) and a high-energy cutoff at ∼7 nm. Magnetic quadrupole lenses11 ensure efficient electron-beam transport and demonstrate an enabling technology for reproducible generation of tunable undulator radiation. The source is scalable to shorter wavelengths by increasing the electron energy. Our results open the prospect of tunable, brilliant, ultrashort-pulsed X-ray sources for small-scale laboratories.

Extreme-ultraviolet pump–probe studies of one-femtosecond-scale electron dynamics

Pump–probe measurements are now an essential tool for investigating ultrafast dynamics in atoms and molecules. A lack of sources producing high-intensity attosecond pulses of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light has, however, hindered progress. Now, a technique that induces nonlinear processes with EUV light is demonstrated that could circumvent this problem.

Laser induced electron acceleration in the presence of static electric and magnetic fields in a plasma

Results of a fully relativistic three-dimensional (3-D) single particle code, supported by a theoretical model, on direct laser acceleration of electrons in radial electric and azimuthal magnetic static fields are presented. The ponderomotive force and the longitudinal components of the laser field are taken into account in the code. The electron motion in the static fields is similar to the motion in a magnetic wiggler. At resonance, when the bounce frequency of the wiggling motion is within a few percent of the Doppler shifted laser frequency, the amplitude of transverse oscillation shows a rapid increase accompanied by a fast rise in energy and parallel momentum. For this situation, a theoretical model of energy exchange between the electrons and the laser provides reasonable estimate of energy gain. The single particle code is used in Monte Carlo simulations to study the energy distribution and angular spread of the accelerated electrons in a self-focused high intensity laser pulse interaction.

Generation of MeV electrons and positrons with femtosecond pulses from a table-top laser system

In experiments, the feasibility was demonstrated of generating multi-MeV electrons in a form of a collimated beam utilizing a table-top laser system delivering 200 fs pulses with PL=1.2 TW and 10 Hz capability. The method uses the process of relativistic self-channeling in a high-density gas jet producing electron densities in the range of 3×1019–6×1020 cm−3. In a thorough investigation, angularly resolved and absolutely calibrated electron spectra were measured and their dependence on the plasma density, laser intensity, and gas medium was studied. For the optimum electron density of ne=2×1020 cm−3 the effective temperature of the electron energy distribution and the channel length exhibit a maximum of 5 MeV and 400 μm respectively. The laser-energyto-MeV-electron efficiency is estimated to be 5%. In a second step, utilizing the multi-MeV electron beam anti-particles, namely positrons, were successfully generated in a 2 mm Pb converter. The average intensity of this new source of positrons is estimated t...

Intense single attosecond pulses from surface harmonics using the polarization gating technique

Harmonics generated at solid surfaces interacting with relativistically strong laser pulses are a promising route towards intense attosecond pulses. In order to obtain single attosecond pulses one can use few-cycle laser pulses with carrier-envelope phase stabilization. However, it appears feasible to use longer pulses using polarization gating—the technique known for a long time from gas harmonics. In this paper, we investigate in detail a specific approach to this technique on the basis of one-dimensional-particle-in-cell (1D PIC) simulations, applied to surface harmonics. We show that under realistic conditions polarization gating results in significant temporal confinement of the harmonics emission allowing thus the generation of intense single attosecond pulses. We study the parameters needed for gating only one attosecond pulse and show that this technique is applicable to both normal and oblique incidence geometry.

Laser-driven fast-electron transport in preheated foil targets

Laser-driven relativistic electron transport through aluminum foils preheated and expanded by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) prepulses has been studied by means of two- and three-dimensional hybrid particle-in-cell simulations. This study is motivated by recent proton acceleration experiments [M. Kaluza, J. Schreiber, M. I. K. Santala, G. D. Tsakiris, K. Eidmann, J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, and K. J. Witte, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 045003 (2004)] showing a significant effect of the ASE prepulse on the proton spectra. Here, it is found that electron-beam collimation due to magnetic fields is reduced and resistive heating by return currents is significantly enhanced, when considering ASE-expanded rather than unperturbed solid target foils. It is shown that this allows for a consistent picture of the new proton spectra and the parameters of the driving electron pulse (angular spread at injection, laser-to-electron conversion, and energy spectrum).

Ultra-high-contrast few-cycle pulses for multipetawatt-class laser technology.

We report the generation of few-cycle multiterawatt light pulses with a temporal contrast of 10(10), when measured as close as 2 ps to the pulses peak. Tens of picoseconds before the main pulse, the contrast value is expected to spread much beyond the measurement limit. Separate measurements of contrast improvement factors at different stages of the laser system indicate that real contrast values may reach 10(19) and 10(14), when measured 50 and 25 ps before the pulses peak, respectively. The combination of the shortest pulse duration and the highest contrast renders our system a promising front-end architecture for future multipetawatt laser facilities.

Exploring intense attosecond pulses

After introducing the importance of non-linear processes in the extreme-ultra-violet (XUV) spectral regime to the attosecond (asec) pulse metrology and time domain applications, we present two successfully implemented techniques with excellent prospects in generating intense asec pulse trains and isolated asec pulses, respectively. For the generation of pulse trains two-color harmonic generation is exploited. The interferometric polarization gating technique appropriate for the generation of intense isolated asec pulses is discussed and compared to other relevant approaches.