141 / 2023-04-14 15:49:13

Ultrafast X-ray sources driven by femtosecond lasers at ELI Beamlines facility

Betatron,LWFA,LPA,Laser plasma acclerator,High Intensity Laser

极端光下的基础物理学 > 辐射源

ELI Beamlines, one of the pillars of the ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure project), is a high-power laser facility with the main objective is to provide beams of ultrashort particles and photons sources to the user community from various fields of research. In this contribution we summarize the current status of research and implementation of three types of X-ray sources: the HHG Beamline [1], the plasma X-ray source, the Gammatron beamline [2], and a Betatron source [3] dedicated to plasma physics research.



X-ray pulse sources driven by high peak power kHz femtosecond lasers such as high-order harmonic sources and plasma X-ray sources (PXS) have been commissioned and already entered the operation phase.



Two hard X-ray sources based on laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) are being commissioned at two experimental areas of the ELI beamlines facility. The ELI Gammatron beamline [2], located in Experimental Hall E2, aims to provide X-ray pulses of energies up to a few hundred of keV in the betatron scheme and up to a MeV in the Inverse Compton scheme. The broadband Gammatron source can be used for various applications from the fundamental sciences to industries. These include phase-contrast imaging [3] to high-resolution X-ray imaging and tomography, time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction, as well as for various industrial applications. The beamline is equipped with all necessary hardware including in-house designed multi-lane and broadband X-ray mirrors based on KB geometry [4] serving as the focus for pump-probe experiments. The second LPA-based hard X-ray Betatron X-ray is being developed in the ELI plasma physics platform (P3) [5] located at the experimental hall E3 [6]. This hard X-ray source aims to serve as a backlighter for various advanced laser-matter interaction experiments such as high-energy-density physics [7], intense laser-matter interaction, and advanced plasma physics experiments in combination with multiple laser beams [8].



Besides, we will present experimental results on the enhancement of betatron X-ray flux by using the density-tailored plasma to control relativistic electron orbits [9]. We will report an advanced scheme for enhancing the X-ray flux based on betatron oscillations enhanced from nonlinear resonances due to interaction with a two-color laser field [10]. In addition, we will report a new mechanism of relativistic emission of radiation from plasma mirrors (RIME) that is identified with an extraordinary property that instead of following specular reflection, the radiation is emitted in the direction along the plasma mirror surface. With analytical and numerical PIC simulation, we show that the RIME produces broadband XUV radiation with an efficiency larger than relativistic HHG. The efficiency of this process can be orders of magnitude higher when compared to specular HHG originating from the relativistic oscillating mirror (ROM) for the same laser and plasma parameters [11].



In addition, we will also introduce a novel optical probing technique employing multiple passes of the probe through the object to increase phase sensitivity and relay imaging of the object between individual passes and provide high sensitivity for the characterization of a low-density gas jet target that is commonly used in laser-plasma accelerator [12-13].



Keywords: High-power lasers, high-order harmonics, X-rays, Betatron Radiation, ELI beamlines



Corresponding author: Dr. Uddhab Chaulagain

Tel: +420 266 051 455

uddhab.chaulagain@eli-beams.eu





References

 

1. O. Hort, et al. "High-flux source of coherent XUV pulses for user applications." Optics express 27.6 (2019): 8871-8883.


2. U. Chaulagain, et al. "ELI Gammatron Beamline: A Dawn of Ultrafast Hard X-ray Science." Photonics. Vol. 9. No. 11. MDPI, 2022.


3. U. Chaulagain, et al. "X-ray phase contrast imaging of biological samples using a betatron x-ray source generated in a laser wakefield accelerator." Laser acceleration of electrons, protons, and ions IV. Vol. 10240. SPIE, 2017.


4. M. Raclavsky et al., Multi- Lane Mirror for Broadband Applications of Betatron X-ray Source, Photonics, 8, 579 (2021). 


5. S. Weber, et al. "P3: An installation for high-energy density plasma physics and ultra-high intensity laser–matter interaction at ELI-Beamlines." Matter and Radiation at Extremes 2.4 (2017): 149-176.


6. U. Chaulagain, et al. "LWFA-driven betatron source for Plasma Physics Platform at ELI Beamlines." Proc. SPIE., 2018. 


7. F. Suzuki-Vidal, et al. "Counterpropagating radiative shock experiments on the orion laser." Physical Review Letters 119.5 (2017): 055001.


8. N. Jourdain, et al. "The L4n laser beamline of the P3-installation: Towards high-repetition rate high-energy density physics at ELI-Beamlines." MRE 6.1 (2021): 015401. 


9. M. Kozlova, et al. "Hard X rays from laser-wakefield accelerators in density tailored plasmas." Physical Review X 10.1 (2020): 011061.


10. M. Lamač et al., “Two-color nonlinear resonances in betatron oscillations of laser accelerated relativistic electrons”, PRR, 3(3), p.033088 (2021). 


11. M. Lamač,  et al. "Anomalous Relativistic Emission from Self-Modulated Plasma Mirrors." arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.08273 (2023).


12. J. Nejdl, et al.,”Imaging Michelson interferometer for a low-density gas jet characterization”, RSI,90(6), 065107 (2019).  


13. S. Karatodorov et al.,” Multi-pass probing for high-sensitivity tomographic interferometry” Sci. Rep., 11(1),1- 10 (2021).