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Now showing 1 - 10 of 57
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    Micro Fresnel mirror array with individual mirror control
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2020) Poyyathuruthy Bruno, Binal; Schütze, Robert; Grunwald, Ruediger; Wallrabe, Ulrike
    We present the design and fabrication of a miniaturized array of piezoelectrically actuated high speed Fresnel mirrors with individual mirror control. These Fresnel mirrors can be used to generate propagation invariant and self-healing interference patterns. The mirrors are actuated using piezobimorph actuators, and the consequent change of the tilting angle of the mirrors changes the fringe spacing of the interference pattern generated. The array consists of four Fresnel mirrors each having an area of 2 × 2 mm2 arranged in a 2x2 configuration. The device, optimized using FEM simulations, is able to achieve maximum mirror deflections of 15 mrad, and has a resonance frequency of 28 kHz.
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    X-ray emission from stainless steel foils irradiated by femtosecond petawatt laser pulses
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2018) Alkhimova, M.A.; Faenov, A.Ya.; Pikuz, T.A.; Skobelev, I.Yu.; Pikuz, S.A.; Nishiuchi, M.; Sakaki, H.; Pirozhkov, A.S.; Sagisaka, S.; Dover, N.P.; Kondo, Ko.; Ogura, K.; Fukuda, Y.; Kiriyama, H.; Esirkepov, T.; Bulanov, S V.; Andreev, A.; Kando, M.; Zhidkov, A.; Nishitani, K.; Miyahara, T.; Watanabe, Y.; Kodama, R.; Kondo, K.
    We report about nonlinear growth of x-ray emission intensity emitted from plasma generated by femtosecond petawatt laser pulses irradiating stainless steel foils. X-ray emission intensity increases as ∼ I 4.5 with laser intensity I on a target. High spectrally resolved x-ray emission from front and rear surfaces of 5 μm thickness stainless steel targets were obtained at the wavelength range 1.7-2.1 Å, for the first time in experiments at femtosecond petawatt laser facility J-KAREN-P. Total intensity of front x-ray spectra three times dominates to rear side spectra for maximum laser intensity I ≈ 3.21021 W/cm2. Growth of x-ray emission is mostly determined by contribution of bremsstrahlung radiation that allowed estimating bulk electron plasma temperature for various magnitude of laser intensity on target.
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    Looking inside the tunnelling barrier: II. Co- and counter-rotating electrons at the ‘tunnelling exit’
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2018-08-03) Kaushal, Jivesh; Smirnova, Olga
    The initial conditions for electron trajectories at the exit from the tunnelling barrier are often used in strong field models, for example to bridge the first and the second steps of the three-step model celebrated in this issue. Since the analytical R-matrix theory does not rely on the three-step model or the concept of the tunnelling barrier in coordinate space, obtaining the initial conditions for electron trajectories at the barrier exit is, strictly speaking, not necessary to calculate standard observables. Not necessary, but possible—especially when motivated by the occasion of this issue. The opportunity to evaluate such initial conditions emerges as a corollary of analysing sub-barrier kinematics, which includes the interplay of laser and Coulomb fields on the sub-cycle scale (see the companion paper I). We apply our results to discuss the difference in such initial conditions for co- and counter-rotating electrons liberated during strong field ionisation. We derive quantum orbits and classical trajectories describing ionization dynamics of co- and counter-rotating electrons in long-range potentials.
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    Terahertz magnetic field enhancement in an asymmetric spiral metamaterial
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2018-10-25) Polley, Debanjan; Hagström, Nanna Zhou; Schmising, Clemens von Korff; Eisebitt, Stefan; Bonetti, Stefano
    We use finite element simulations in both the frequency and the time-domain to study the terahertz resonance characteristics of a metamaterial (MM) comprising a spiral connected to a straight arm. The MM acts as a RLC circuit whose resonance frequency can be precisely tuned by varying the characteristic geometrical parameters of the spiral: inner and outer radius, width and number of turns. We provide a simple analytical model that uses these geometrical parameters as input to give accurate estimates of the resonance frequency. Finite element simulations show that linearly polarized terahertz radiation efficiently couples to the MM thanks to the straight arm, inducing a current in the spiral, which in turn induces a resonant magnetic field enhancement at the center of the spiral. We observe a large (approximately 40 times) and uniform (over an area of ∼10 μm2) enhancement of the magnetic field for narrowband terahertz radiation with frequency matching the resonance frequency of the MM. When a broadband, single-cycle terahertz pulse propagates towards the MM, the peak magnetic field of the resulting band-passed waveform still maintains a six-fold enhancement compared to the peak impinging field. Using existing laser-based terahertz sources, our MM design allows to generate magnetic fields of the order of 2 T over a time scale of several picoseconds, enabling the investigation of nonlinear ultrafast spin dynamics in table-top experiments. Furthermore, our MM can be implemented to generate intense near-field narrowband, multi-cycle electromagnetic fields to study generic ultrafast resonant terahertz dynamics in condensed matter.
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    Phase- and intensity-resolved measurements of above threshold ionization by few-cycle pulses
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2018-06-11) Kübel, M.; Arbeiter, M.; Burger, C.; Kling, Nora G.; Pischke, T.; Moshammer, R.; Fennel, T.; Kling, M.F.; Bergues, B.
    We investigate the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) and intensity dependence of the longitudinal momentum distribution of photoelectrons resulting from above threshold ionization of argon by few-cycle laser pulses. The intensity of the pulses with a center wavelength of 750 nm is varied in a range between 0.7 × 1014 and . Our measurements reveal a prominent maximum in the CEP-dependent asymmetry at photoelectron energies of 2 U P (U P being the ponderomotive potential), that is persistent over the entire intensity range. Further local maxima are observed around 0.3 and 0.8 U P. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical results obtained by solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We show that for few-cycle pulses, the amplitude of the CEP-dependent asymmetry provides a reliable measure for the peak intensity on target. Moreover, the measured asymmetry amplitude exhibits an intensity-dependent interference structure at low photoelectron energy, which could be used to benchmark model potentials for complex atoms.
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    Delayed relaxation of highly excited naphthalene cations
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2020) Reitsma, G.; Hummert, J.; Dura, J.; Loriot, V.; Vrakking, M.J.J.; Lépine, F.; Kornilov, O.
    The efficiency of energy transfer in ultrafast electronic relaxation of molecules depends strongly on the complex interplay between electronic and nuclear motion. In this study we use wavelength-selected XUV pulses to induce relaxation dynamics of highly excited cationic states of naphthalene. Surprisingly, the observed relaxation lifetimes increase with the cationic excitation energy. We propose that this is a manifestation of a quantum mechanical population trapping that leads to delayed relaxation of molecules in the regions with a high density of excited states. © 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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    Robust transverse structures in rescattered photoelectron wavepackets and their consequences
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2020) Bredtmann, T.; Patchkovskii, S.
    Initial-state symmetry has been under-appreciated in strong-field spectroscopies, where laser fields dominate the dynamics. We demonstrate numerically that the transverse photoelectron phase structure, arising from the initial-state symmetry, is robust in strong-field rescattering, and has pronounced effects on strong-field photoelectron spectra. Interpretation of rescattering experiments need to take these symmetry effects into account. In turn, robust transverse photoelectron phase structures may enable attosecond sub-Ångström super-resolution imaging with structured electron beams.
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    X-ray spectroscopy of super-intense laser-produced plasmas for the study of nonlinear processes. Comparison with PIC simulations
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2017) Dalimier, E.; Ya Faenov, A.; Oks, E.; Angelo, P.; Pikuz, T.A.; Fukuda, Y.; Andreev, A.; Koga, J.; Sakaki, H.; Kotaki, H.; Pirozhkov, A.; Hayashi, Y.; Skobelev, I.Yu.; Pikuz, S.A.; Kawachi, T.; Kando, M.; Kondo, K.; Zhidkov, A.; Tubman, E.; Butler, N.M.H.; Dance, R.J.; Alkhimova, M.A.; Booth, N.; Green, J.; Gregory, C.; McKenna, P.; Woolsey, N.; Kodama, R.
    We present X-ray spectroscopic diagnostics in femto-second laser-driven experiments revealing nonlinear phenomena caused by the strong coupling of the laser radiation with the created plasma. Among those nonlinear phenomena, we found the signatures of the Two Plasmon Decay (TPD) instability in a laser-driven CO2 cluster-based plasma by analyzing the Langmuir dips in the profile of the O VIII Lyϵ line, caused by the Langmuir waves created at the high laser intensity 3 1018Wcm-2. With similar laser intensities, we reveal also the nonlinear phenomenon of the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) of the laser frequency by analyzing the nonlinear phenomenon of satellites of Lyman δ and ϵ lines of Ar XVII. In the case of relativistic laser-plasma interaction we discovered the Parametric Decay Instability (PDI)-induced ion acoustic turbulence produced simultaneously with Langmuir waves via irradiation of thin Si foils by laser intensities of 1021Wcm-2.
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    Strong-Field Ionization of Linear Molecules by a Bichromatic Elliptically Polarized Laser Field with Coplanar Counterrotating or Corotating Components of Different Frequencies
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2020) Gazibegović-Busuladžić, A.; Busuladžić, M.; Čerkić, A.; Hasović, E.; Becker, W.; Milošević, D.B.
    We investigate strong-field ionization of linear molecules by a two-color laser field of frequencies rω and sω having coplanar counterrotating or corotating elliptically polarized components (ω is the fundamental laser field frequency and r and s are integers). Using the improved molecular strong-field approximation we analyze direct above-threshold ionization (ATI) and high-order ATI (HATI) spectra. More precisely, reflection and rotational symmetries of these spectra for linear molecules aligned in the laser-field polarization plane are considered. The reflection symmetries for particular molecular orientations, known to be valid for a bicircular field (this is the field with circularly polarized counterrotating components), are valid also for arbitrary component ellipticities. However, specific rotational symmetries that are satisfied for HATI by a bicircular field, are violated for an arbitrary elliptically polarized field with counterrotating components. For the corotating case and the N2 molecule we analyze molecular-orientation-dependent interferences and plateau structures for various ellipticities.
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    Emittance Reduction of RF Photoinjector Generated Electron Beams by Transverse Laser Beam Shaping
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2019) Gross, M.; Qian, H.J.; Boonpornprasert, P.; Chen, Y.; Good, J.D.; Huck, H.; Isaev, I.; Koschitzki, C.; Krasilnikov, M.; Lal, S.; Li, X.; Lishilin, O.; Loisch, G.; Melkumyan, D.; Mohanty, S.K.; Niemczyk, R.; Oppelt, A.; Shaker, H.; Shu, G.; Stephan, F.; Vashchenko, G.; Will, I.
    Laser pulse shaping is one of the key elements to generate low emittance electron beams with RF photoinjectors. Ultimately high performance can be achieved with ellipsoidal laser pulses, but 3-dimensional shaping is challenging. High beam quality can also be reached by simple transverse pulse shaping, which has demonstrated improved beam emittance compared to a transversely uniform laser in the 'pancake' photoemission regime. In this contribution we present the truncation of a Gaussian laser at a radius of approximately one sigma in the intermediate (electron bunch length directly after emission about the same as radius) photoemission regime with high acceleration gradients (up to 60 MV/m). This type of electron bunch is used e.g. at the European XFEL and FLASH free electron lasers at DESY, Hamburg site and is being investigated in detail at the Photoinjector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). Here we present ray-tracing simulations and experimental data of a laser beamline upgrade enabling variable transverse truncation. Initial projected emittance measurements taken with help of this setup are shown, as well as supporting beam dynamics simulations. Additional simulations show the potential for substantial reduction of slice emittance at PITZ. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.