Goki Arai

Quasi-Moseley's law for strong narrow bandwidth soft x-ray sources containing higher charge-state ions

Bright narrow band emission observed in optically thin plasmas of high-Z elements in the extreme ultraviolet spectral region follows a quasi-Moseleys law. The peak wavelength can be expressed as λ=(21.86±12.09)×R∞−1×(Z−(23.23±2.87))−(1.52±0.12), where R∞ is the Rydberg constant. The wavelength varies from 13.5 nm to 4.0 nm as the atomic number, Z, increases from Z = 50 to Z = 83. The range of emission wavelengths available from hot optically thin plasmas permits the development of bright laboratory-scale sources for applications including x-ray microscopy and x-ray absorption fine structure determination.

Spectral investigation of highly ionized bismuth plasmas produced by subnanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses

The unresolved transition arrays (UTAs) emitted from laser produced bismuth (Bi) plasma sources show potential for single-shot live cell imaging. We have measured extreme ultraviolet spectra from bismuth laser produced plasmas in the 1-7 nm region using a lambda = 1064 nm Nd: YAG laser with a pulse duration of 150 ps. Comparison of spectra obtained under different laser power densities with calculations using the Hartree-Fock with configuration interaction Cowan suite of codes and the UTA formalism, as well as consideration of previous predictions of isoelectronic trends, are employed to identify lines and a number of new features in spectra from Bi XXIII to Bi XLVII. The results show that Delta n. =. 0, n = 4-4 emission from highly charged ions merges to form intense UTAs in the 4 nm region and Delta n - 1, n - 4-5 resonance transitions UTAs dominate the 1-3 nm region of the Bi spectrum.

Soft X-ray emission from molybdenum plasmas generated by dual laser pulses

We demonstrate efficient enhancement of soft X-ray (SXR) emission from molybdenum plasmas produced using dual pulse irradiation, in which 10-ns and 150-ps pre-pulses were followed by a 150-ps main pulse. The number of photons was observed to be 5.3 × 1016 photons/sr, which corresponded to a conversion efficiency of 1.5%/sr in λ = 2.34–4.38 nm region at a pulse separation time of 1 ns with the 150-ps pre-pulse. The conversion efficiency became 1.3 times as large as that produced by a single pulse. The results indicate the advantage of dual pulse irradiation using sub-ns pre-and main pulses to produce the bright plasmas required for applications such as laboratory based SXR microscopy.

Evolution of laser-produced Sn extreme ultraviolet source diameter for high-brightness source

We have investigated the effect of irradiation of solid Sn targets with laser pulses of sub-ns duration and sub-mJ energy on the diameter of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emitting region and source conversion efficiency. It was found that an in-band EUV source diameter as low as 18 μm was produced due to the short scale length of a plasma produced by a sub-ns laser. Most of the EUV emission occurs in a narrow region with a plasma density close to the critical density value. Such EUV sources are suitable for high brightness and high repetition rate metrology applications.

Characteristics of the soft X-ray emission from laser-produced highly charged platinum plasmas

We characterized the spectral structure of the soft X-ray emission and determined the plasma parameters in laser-produced highly charged platinum plasmas. The spectral structure observed originated from Pt21+ to Pt34+ ions, emissions from which overlapped to produce a high output flux in the carbon-window soft X-ray spectral region. Using dual laser pulse irradiation, we observed the maximum output flux, which was 20% larger than that obtained under single-laser irradiation, and the evolution of a strongly absorbed spectral structure, which was attributed to the effects of both opacity and long-scale length of the expanding pre-plasma.

Characteristics of x-ray emission from optically thin high-Z plasmas in the soft x-ray region

The characteristics of soft x-ray emission from optically thin high-Z plasmas of gold, lead and bismuth were investigated with the large helical device. Compared to optically thicker laser-produced plasmas, significantly different spectral structures were observed due to the difference in opacities and electron temperatures. Peak structures appearing in unresolved transition arrays were identified by calculations using atomic structure codes. The main contributors of discrete line emission in each case were Pd-, Ag-, and Rh-like ion stages. The present calculations point to the overestimation of contributions for 4p–4d transitions based on intensity estimates arising purely from gA distributions that predict strong emission from 4p–4d transitions. Understanding of such spectral emission is not only important for the completion of databases of high-Z highly ion charge states but also the development of promising high brightness sources for biological imaging applications.

Analysis of extreme ultraviolet spectra from laser produced rhenium plasmas

Extreme ultraviolet spectra of highly-charged rhenium ions were observed in the 1–7 nm region using two Nd:YAG lasers with pulse lengths of 150 ps and 10 ns, respectively, operating at a number of laser power densities. The maximum focused peak power density was 2.6 × 1014 W cm−2 for the former and 5.5 × 1012 W cm−2 for the latter. The Cowan suite of atomic structure codes and unresolved transition array (UTA) approach were used to calculate and interpret the emission properties of the different spectra obtained. The results show that n = 4-n = 4 and n = 4-n = 5 UTAs lead to two intense quasi-continuous emission bands in the 4.3–6.3 nm and 1.5–4.3 nm spectral regions. As a result of the different ion stage distributions in the plasmas induced by ps and ns laser irradiation the 1.5–4.3 nm UTA peak moves to shorter wavelength in the ps laser produced plasma spectra. For the ns spectrum, the most populated ion stage during the lifetime of this plasma that could be identified from the n = 4-n = 5 transitions was Re23+ while for the ps plasma the presence of significantly higher stages was demonstrated. For the n = 4-n = 4 4p64dN-4p54dN+1 + 4p64dN−14f transitions, the 4d-4f transitions contribute mainly in the most intense 4.7–5.5 nm region while the 4p-4d subgroup gives rise to a weaker feature in the 4.3–4.7 nm region. A number of previously unidentified spectral features produced by n = 4-n = 5 transitions in the spectra of Re XVI to Re XXXIX are identified.

Temporal behavior of unresolved transition array emission in water window soft x-ray spectral region from multiply charged ions

We have characterized the spectral structure and the temporal history of the laser-produced high-Z multi-charged ion plasmas for the efficient water window soft x-ray sources. Strong unresolved transition array emission was observed due to 4d–4f and 4f–5g transitions from Au, Pb, and Bi plasmas in the 280–700 eV photon energy region. The temporal behavior of the emission was essentially similar of that of the laser pulse with a slight delay between different transitions. These results provide feedback for accurate modeling of the atomic processes with the radiative hydrodynamic simulations.

Generation of radially polarized high energy mid-infrared optical vortex by use of a passive axially symmetric ZnSe waveplate

We demonstrated the generation of the intense radially polarized mid-infrared optical vortex at a wavelength of 10.6 μm by use of a passive axially symmetric zinc selenide (ZnSe) waveplate with high energy pulse throughput. The phase of the radially polarized optical vortex with the degree of polarization of 0.95 was spirally distributed in regard to the angle. The converted laser beam energy of about 2.6 mJ per pulse was obtained at the input pulse energy of 4.9 mJ, corresponding to the energy conversion efficiency of 56%.

A 10 Hz Short-Pulse CO2 Laser System for Extreme Ultraviolet Source

We produced 3–15 ns pulses at 10.6 μm wavelength to investigate efficient extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray sources. A master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser operating at a repetition rate of 10 Hz was built on transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 mediums. A scheme of a pulse-width tunable CO2 laser was proposed. The amplification by a 14-pass amplifier provided output energies of 150 and 60 mJ per pulse at durations of 15 ns and 3 ns, respectively. An initial observation of Gd plasmas produced by the CO2 laser shows that the spectral efficiency around 6.7 nm was improved by short laser pulses irradiation.