Marek Wieland

Single-shot timing measurement of extreme-ultraviolet free-electron laser pulses

Arrival time fluctuations of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) pulses from the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) are measured single-pulse resolved at the experimental end-station. To this end, they are non-collinearly superimposed in space and time with visible femtosecond laser pulses on a GaAs substrate. The EUV irradiation induces changes of the reflectivity for the visible pulse. The temporal delay between the two light pulses is directly encoded in the spatial position of the reflectivity change which is captured with a CCD camera. For each single shot, the relative EUV/visible arrival-time can be measured with about 40 fs rms accuracy. The method constitutes a novel route for an improvement of future pump–probe experiments at short-wavelength free-electron lasers (FELs) by a pulse-wise correction with simultaneously measured arrival times of individual EUV pulses.

Submicron extreme ultraviolet imaging using high-harmonic radiation

We report on experiments using high-harmonic (HH) radiation for microscopy imaging at 13 nm wavelength. A simple setup using a zone plate as objective and a back-illuminated CCD as detector yields at moderate magnifications of M≈60 a spatial resolution of δx<0.8 μm demonstrated with a sample of mica. The HH radiation was monochromatized by means of a high-efficiency multilayer monochromator consisting of two Mo/Si-mirros.

Time-resolved ion spectrometry on xenon with the jitter-compensated soft x-ray pulses of a free-electron laser

Atomic inner-shell relaxation dynamics were measured at the free-electron laser in Hamburg, FLASH, delivering 92 eV pulses. The decay of 4d core holes created in xenon was followed by detection of ion charge states after illumination with delayed 400 nm laser pulses. A timing jitter of the order of several hundred femtoseconds between laser- and accelerator-pulses was compensated for by a simultaneous delay measurement in a single-shot x-ray/laser cross-correlator. After sorting of the tagged spectra according to the measured delays, a temporal resolution equivalent to the pulse duration of the optical laser could be established. While results on ion charge states up to Xe4+ are compatible with a previous study using a high-harmonic soft x-ray source, a new relaxation pathway is opened by the nonlinear excitation of xenon atoms in the intense free-electron laser light field, leading to the formation of Xe5+.

Influence of laser intensity and pulse duration on the extreme ultraviolet yield from a water jet target laser plasma

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission in the 11–15 nm wavelength range from a thin liquid water jet target under illumination with a high repetition rate, high average power laser (Nd-YLF) has been studied. To find the optimum conversion efficiency of laser light into EUV radiation, different laser parameters were applied. The laser intensity was varied between 1011 and 1015 W/cm2, and pulse duration in the range from 30 ps to 3 ns. A maximum conversion efficiency of 0.12% in 2.2% bandwidth and 4π steradian at 13 nm was achieved at a repetion rate of 250 kHz, and a strong dependence of the conversion efficiency on both laser intensity and pulse duration was found.

Electron wave packet sampling with laser-generated extreme ultraviolet and terahertz fields

We report on transferring the concept of light-field streaking with intense terahertz fields from free-electron lasers to the laboratory scale. Utilizing a commercial laser system, synchronized 300 μm terahertz and 13 nm extreme ultraviolet pulses are generated by optical rectification and high harmonic generation, respectively. The terahertz fields are sufficiently strong to support electron wave packet sampling with a few fs resolution. The capability of this approach is demonstrated by measuring the duration of electron pulses formed by direct photoemission from a neon gas target.

Ultrafast photofragmentation dynamics of molecular iodine driven with timed XUV and near-infrared light pulses.

Photofragmentation dynamics of molecular iodine was studied as a response to the joint illumination with femtosecond 800 nm near-infrared and 13 nm extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses delivered by the free-electron laser facility FLASH. The interaction of the molecular target with two light pulses of different wavelengths but comparable pulse energy elucidates a complex intertwined electronic and nuclear dynamics. To follow distinct pathways out of a multitude of reaction channels, the recoil of created ionic fragments is analyzed. The delayed XUV pulse provides a way of following molecular photodissociation of I(2) with a characteristic time-constant of (55 ± 10) fs after the laser-induced formation of antibonding states. A preceding XUV pulse, on the other hand, preferably creates a 4d(-1) inner-shell vacancy followed by the fast Auger cascade with a revealed characteristic time constant τ(A2)=(23±11) fs for the second Auger decay transition. Some fraction of molecular cationic states undergoes subsequent Coulomb explosion, and the evolution of the launched molecular wave packet on the repulsive Coulomb potential was accessed by the laser-induced postionization. A further unexpected photofragmentation channel, which relies on the collective action of XUV and laser fields, is attributed to a laser-promoted charge transfer transition in the exploding molecule.

Scaling-up a liquid water jet laser plasma source to high average power for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography

In this article we describe a laser plasma source for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) based on a liquid water jet target. Although jet targets are known for some time now, no attempts have been made to prove the functionality of the target under conditions similar to an EUVL production-line facility, that means illumination with high average power laser systems (in the multi-kW regime) at repetition rates in the kHz region. Such systems are currently under development. We used the MBI-burst laser to simulate these extreme illumination conditions. We examined the hydrodynamic stability of the target as a function of the laser repetition rate at different average laser powers (0.6kW and 5kW per burst). Additionally, the dependence of the conversion efficiency on pulse duration in the range from 30ps to 3ns was investigated. From our results one can conclude parameters for future design of driver lasers for EUVL systems.

Time-to-space mapping in a gas medium for the temporal characterization of vacuum-ultraviolet pulses

The authors introduce a method for cross correlating vacuum-ultraviolet with near-infrared femtosecond light pulses in a perpendicular geometry. Photoelectrons generated in an atomic gas by laser-assisted photoionization are used to create a two-dimensional image of the cross-correlation volume, thereby mapping time onto a space coordinate. Thus, information about pulse duration and relative timing between the pulses can be obtained without the need to scan an optical delay line. First tests using vacuum-ultraviolet pulses from the free-electron laser at the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron set an upper limit for their temporal jitter with respect to external optical laser pulses.

Single-optical-element soft-x-ray interferometry with a laser-plasma x-ray source

We report on a compact interferometer for the water-window soft-x-ray range that is suitable for operation with laser-plasma sources. The interferometer consists of a single diffractive optical element that focuses impinging x rays to two focal spots. The light from these two secondary sources forms the interference pattern. The interferometer was operated with a liquid-nitrogen jet laser-plasma source at lambda=2.88 nm. Scalar wave-field propagation was used to simulate the interference pattern, showing good correspondence between theoretical and experimental results. The diffractive optical element can simultaneously be used as an imaging optic, and we demonstrate soft-x-ray microscopy with interferometric contrast enhancement of a phase object.

Time-diagnostics for improved dynamics experiments at XUV FELs

Significantly structured and fluctuating temporal profiles of pulses from self-amplified spontaneous emission free electron lasers as well as their unstable timing require time diagnostics on a single-shot basis. The duration and structure of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses from the Free Electron Laser (FEL) in Hamburg (FLASH) are becoming accessible using a variation of the streak camera principle, where photoemitted electrons are energetically streaked in the electric field component of a terahertz electromagnetic wave. The timing with respect to an independently generated laser pulse can be measured in an XUV/laser cross-correlator, based on a non-collinear superposition of both pulses on a solid state surface and detection of XUV-induced modulations of its reflectivity for visible light. Sorting of data according to the measured timing dramatically improves the temporal resolution of an experiment sampling the relaxation of transient electronic states in xenon after linear- as well as nonlinear excitation with intense XUV pulses from FLASH.