Single-shot nanometer-scale imaging techniques have become important because of their potential application in observing the structural dynamics of nanomaterials. We report here the image reconstruction results obtained using single-shot Fourier transform x-ray holography with an x-ray laser driven by a table top laser system. A minimum resolution of 87 nm was obtained from the reconstructed image. We could also discriminate the aggregates of carbon nanotubes, which shows the feasibility of single-exposure nanoimaging for real specimens using a laser-driven x-ray laser.
We have developed a 0.1-Hz-repetition-rate, 30-fs, 1.5-PW Ti:sapphire laser system for the research on high field physics. In this paper, we describe the design and output performance of the PW Ti:sapphire laser and its applications in the generation of relativistic high order harmonic generation and the acceleration of charged particles (protons and electrons). In the experiment on relativistic harmonic generation, the harmonic order dramatically extended up to 164 th that corresponds to 4.9 nm in wavelength, and the dramatic extension was explained by the oscillatory flying mirror model. Recently, we could accelerate protons up to 45 MeV from a 10-nm polymer target and show the change in the acceleration mechanism from target normal sheath acceleration to radiation pressure acceleration. The femtosecond high power laser system is a good candidate for developing a compact electron accelerator as well. The generation of multiGeV electron beam was observed from an injection scheme when a PW laser pulse was focused by a long focal length spherical mirror.
The term “laser microexplosion” has been introduced to stress the violent character of the optical breakdown by laser radiation under conditions of tight focusing. Generally, the starting phase of the breakdown has been neglected by the assumption of absorption triggered by the presence of damage precursors. The application of the plasticity–elasticity theory in the analysis of the dynamics of this phenomenon has not been extensively examined to date. This paper formulates a phenomenological model attempting to explain the creation of nanovoids in a soft matter under irradiation by a flux of extreme ultraviolet (XUV)/soft x-ray photons. The combined action of plastic deformation and dissociation waves on soft matter is found to be responsible for the material modifications. It is suggested that localized (volume≃λ3) abundance of energy, coming most likely from photon bunching, constitutes the real onset of the photo-ablative decomposition. It is shown that the coincidental presence of some small number of energy carriers (2–3 XUV photons in the considered case) in such a small volume triggers processes denoted from now on as a laser nanoexplosion. The effect is considered to be the first step in the optical breakdown followed by an intense material removal resembling, to some extent, a phase explosion.
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