A new double laser pulse pumping scheme for transient collisionally excited plasma soft X-ray lasers

Within this thesis a new double laser pulse pumping scheme for plasma-based, transient collisionally excited soft x-ray lasers (SXRL) was developed, characterized and utilized for applications. SXRL operations from ~50 up to ~200 electron volt were demonstrated applying this concept. As a central technical tool, a special Mach-Zehnder interferometer in the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser front-end was developed for the generation of fully controllable double-pulses to optimally pump SXRLs.rnThis Mach-Zehnder device is fully controllable and enables the creation of two CPA pulses of different pulse duration and variable energy balance with an adjustable time delay. Besides the SXRL pumping, the double-pulse configuration was applied to determine the B-integral in the CPA laser system by amplifying short pulse replica in the system, followed by an analysis in the time domain. The measurement of B-integral values in the 0.1 to 1.5 radian range, only limited by the reachable laser parameters, proved to be a promising tool to characterize nonlinear effects in the CPA laser systems.rnContributing to the issue of SXRL pumping, the double-pulse was configured to optimally produce the gain medium of the SXRL amplification. The focusing geometry of the two collinear pulses under the same grazing incidence angle on the target, significantly improved the generation of the active plasma medium. On one hand the effect was induced by the intrinsically guaranteed exact overlap of the two pulses on the target, and on the other hand by the grazing incidence pre-pulse plasma generation, which allows for a SXRL operation at higher electron densities, enabling higher gain in longer wavelength SXRLs and higher efficiency at shorter wavelength SXRLs. The observation of gain enhancement was confirmed by plasma hydrodynamic simulations.rnThe first introduction of double short-pulse single-beam grazing incidence pumping for SXRL pumping below 20 nanometer at the laser facility PHELIX in Darmstadt (Germany), resulted in a reliable operation of a nickel-like palladium SXRL at 14.7 nanometer with a pump energy threshold strongly reduced to less than 500 millijoule. With the adaptation of the concept, namely double-pulse single-beam grazing incidence pumping (DGRIP) and the transfer of this technology to the laser facility LASERIX in Palaiseau (France), improved efficiency and stability of table-top high-repetition soft x-ray lasers in the wavelength region below 20 nanometer was demonstrated. With a total pump laser energy below 1 joule the target, 2 mircojoule of nickel-like molybdenum soft x-ray laser emission at 18.9 nanometer was obtained at 10 hertz repetition rate, proving the attractiveness for high average power operation. An easy and rapid alignment procedure fulfilled the requirements for a sophisticated installation, and the highly stable output satisfied the need for a reliable strong SXRL source. The qualities of the DGRIP scheme were confirmed in an irradiation operation on user samples with over 50.000 shots corresponding to a deposited energy of ~ 50 millijoule.rnThe generation of double-pulses with high energies up to ~120 joule enabled the transfer to shorter wavelength SXRL operation at the laser facility PHELIX. The application of DGRIP proved to be a simple and efficient method for the generation of soft x-ray lasers below 10 nanometer. Nickel-like samarium soft x-ray lasing at 7.3 nanometer was achieved at a low total pump energy threshold of 36 joule, which confirmed the suitability of the applied pumping scheme. A reliable and stable SXRL operation was demonstrated, due to the single-beam pumping geometry despite the large optical apertures. The soft x-ray lasing of nickel-like samarium was an important milestone for the feasibility of applying the pumping scheme also for higher pumping pulse energies, which are necessary to obtain soft x-ray laser wavelengths in the water window. The reduction of the total pump energy below 40 joule for 7.3 nanometer short wavelength lasing now fulfilled the requirement for the installation at the high-repetition rate operation laser facility LASERIX.rn

Grazing incidence pumped Zr x-ray laser for spectroscopy on Li-like ions

X-ray laser fluorescence spectroscopy of the 2s-2p transition in Li-like ions is promising to become a widely applicable tool to provide information on the nuclear charge radii of stable and radioactive isotopes. For performing such experiments at the Experimental Storage Ring ESR, and the future NESR within the FAIR Project, a grazing incidence pumped (GRIP) x-ray laser (XRL) was set up at GSI Darmstadt using PHELIX (Petawatt High Energy Laser for heavy Ions eXperiments). The experiments demonstrated that lasing using the GRIP geometry could be achieved with relatively low pump energy, a prerequisite for higher repetition rate. In the first chapter the need of a plasma XRL is motivated and a short history of the plasma XRL is presented. The distinctive characteristic of the GRIP method is the controlled deposition of the pump laser energy into the desired plasma density region. While up to now the analysis performed were mostly concerned with the plasma density at the turning point of the main pump pulse, in this thesis it is demonstrated that also the energy deposition is significantly modified for the GRIP method, being sensitive in different ways to a large number of parameters. In the second chapter, the theoretical description of the plasma evolution, active medium and XRL emission properties are reviewed. In addition an innovative analysis of the laser absorption in plasma which includes an inverse Bremsstrahlung (IB) correction factor is presented. The third chapter gives an overview of the experimental set-up and diagnostics, providing an analytical formula for the average and instantaneous traveling wave speed generated with a tilted, on-axis spherical mirror, the only focusing system used up to now in GRIP XRL. The fourth chapter describes the experimental optimization and results. The emphasis is on the effect of the incidence angle of the main pump pulse on the absorption in plasma and on output and gain in different lasing lines. This is compared to the theoretical results for two different incidence angles. Significant corrections for the temperature evolution during the main pump pulse due to the incidence angle are demonstrated in comparison to a simple analytical model which does not take into account the pumping geometry. A much better agreement is reached by the model developed in this thesis. An interesting result is also the appearance of a central dip in the spatially resolved keV emission which was observed in the XRL experiments for the first time and correlates well with previous near field imaging and plasma density profile measurements. In the conclusion also an outlook to the generation of shorter wavelength XRL’s is given.

Metastability exchange optical pumping in 3 He gas up to 30 mT: Efficiency measurements and evidence of laser-induced nuclear relaxation

Advances in metastability exchange optical pumping (MEOP) of 3He at high laser powers, with its various applications, but also at high gas pressures p3 and high magnetic field strengths B, have provided strong motivation for revisiting the understanding and for investigating the limitations of this powerful technique. For this purpose, we present systematic experimental and theoretical studies of efficiency and of relaxation mechanisms in B≤30 mT and p3=0.63−2.45 mbar. 3He nuclear polarisation is measured by light absorption in longitudinal configuration where weak light beams at 1083 nm parallel to magnetic field and cell axis with opposite circular polarisations are used to probe the distribution of populations in the metastable state. This method is systematically tested to evaluate potential systematic biases and is shown to be reliable for the study of OP dynamics despite the redistribution of populations by OP light. Nuclear polarisation loss associated to the emission of polarised light by the plasma discharge used for MEOP is found to decrease above 10 mT, as expected, due to hyperfine decoupling in highly excited states. However, this does not lead to improved MEOP efficiency at high laser power. We find clear evidence of additional laser-induced relaxation instead. The strong OP-enhanced polarisation losses, currently limiting MEOP performances, are quantitatively investigated using an angular momentum budget approach and a recently developed comprehensive model that describes the combined effects of OP, ME and relaxation, validated by comparison to experimental results.

Entwicklung kohärenter Lichtquellen im XUV-Regime

Plasmabasierte Röntgenlaser sind aufgrund ihrer kurzen Wellenlänge und schma-rnlen spektralen Bandbreite attraktive Diagnose-Instrumente in einer Vielzahl potentieller Anwendungen, beispielsweise in den Bereichen Spektroskopie, Mikroskopie und EUV-Lithografie. Dennoch sind Röntgenlaser zum heutigen Stand noch nicht sehr weit verbreitet, was vorwiegend auf eine zu geringe Pulsenergie und für manche Anwendungen nicht hinreichende Strahlqualität zurückzuführen ist. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden in den letzten Jahren bedeutende Fortschritte erzielt. Die gleichzeitige Weiterentwicklung von Pumplasersystemen und Pumpmechanismen ermöglichte es, kompakte Röntgenlaserquellen mit bis zu 100 Hz zu betreiben. Um gleichzeitig höhere Pulsenergien, höhere Strahlqualität und volle räumliche Kohärenz zu erhalten, wurden intensive Studien theoretischer und experimenteller Natur durchgeführt. In diesem Kontext wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit ein experimenteller Aufbau zur Kombination von zwei Röntgenlaser-Targets entwickelt, die sogenannte Butterfly-Konfiguration. Der erste Röntgenlaser wird dabei als sogenannter Seed für das zweite, als Verstärker dienende Röntgenlasermedium verwendet (injection-seeding). Aufrndiese Weise werden störende Effekte vermieden, welche beim Entstehungsprozessrndes Röntgenlasers durch die Verstärkung von spontaner Emission zustande kom-rnmen. Unter Verwendung des ebenfalls an der GSI entwickelten Double-Pulse Gra-rnzing Incidence Pumpschemas ermöglicht das hier vorgestellte Konzept, erstmaligrnbeide Röntgenlasertargets effizient und inklusive Wanderwellenanregung zu pum-rnpen.rnBei einer ersten experimentellen Umsetzung gelang die Erzeugung verstärkter Silber-Röntgenlaserpulse von 1 µJ bei 13.9 nm Wellenlänge. Anhand der gewonnenen Daten erfolgte neben dem Nachweis der Verstärkung die Bestimmung der Lebensdauer der Besetzungsinversion zu 3 ps. In einem Nachfolgeexperiment wurden die Eigenschaften eines Molybdän-Röntgenlaserplasmas näher untersucht. Neben dem bisher an der GSI angewandten Pumpschema kam in dieser Strahlzeit noch eine weitere Technik zum Einsatz, welche auf einem zusätzlichen Pumppuls basierte. In beiden Schemata gelang neben dem Nachweis der Verstärkung die zeitliche und räumliche Charakterisierung des Verstärkermediums. Röntgenlaserpulse mit bis zu 240 nJ bei einer Wellenlänge von 18.9 nm wurden nachgewiesen. Die erreichte Brillanz der verstärkten Pulse lag ca. zwei Größenordnungen über der des ursprünglichen Seeds und mehr als eine Größenordnung über der Brillanz eines Röntgenlasers, dessen Erzeugung auf der Verwendung eines einzelnen Targets basierte. Das in dieser Arbeitrnentwickelte und experimentell verifizierte Konzept birgt somit das Potential, extrem brillante plasmabasierte Röntgenlaser mit vollständiger räumlicher und zeitlicher Kohärenz zu erzeugen.rnDie in dieser Arbeit diskutierten Ergebnisse sind ein wesentlicher Beitrag zu der Entwicklung eines Röntgenlasers, der bei spektroskopischen Untersuchungen von hochgeladenen Schwerionen eingesetzt werden soll. Diese Experimente sind amrnExperimentierspeicherring der GSI und zukünftig auch am High-Energy StoragernRing der FAIR-Anlage vorgesehen.rn