Laser-Produced Heavy Ion Plasmas as Efficient Soft X-Ray Sources

Abstract

We demonstrate extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray sources in the 2-to 7 -nm spectral region related to the beyond extreme ultraviolet (BEUV) question at 6.x nm and a water window source based on laser-produced high-Z plasmas. Strong emissions from multiply charged ions merge to produce intense unresolved transition array (UTA) toward extending below the carbon K-edge (4.37 nm). An outline of a microscope design for single-shot live-cell imaging is proposed based on a high-Z UTA plasma source, coupled to x-ray optics. We will discuss the progress and Z-scaling of UTA emission spectra to achieve lab-scale table-top, efficient, high-brightness high-Z plasma EUV-soft x-ray sources for in vivo bio-imaging applications.

Thomson scattering measurements of electron temperature and electron density in laser-driven Gd plasmas

“…All the T e scatters represent the maximum T e observed under each condition. By fitting the measured T e with power laws [38] (red solid line), the experimentally observed T e was found to increase with increasing laser intensity with a dependence T e ∝ I L 0.37 at n e ∼ (2-3) × 10 19 cm −3 , which is in rough agreement with the theoretical prediction of T e ∝ (I L λ L 2 ) 0.4 , where λ L is the laser wavelength in µm [17,39]. Using the relation between T e and I L and the atomic code of the FLYCHK, we calculated the variation of the average charge state Z i with I L at n e = 2.5 × 10 19 cm −3 and 1.0 × 10 20 cm −3 , corresponding to the typical density conditions observed in the experiment and simulation, respectively, and both are shown as dashed lines in figure 11(b).…”

“…Optimizing these parameters can considerably improve the SP and CE of the laser energy to EUV photons [4,5]. However, despite great experimental and computational efforts have been devoted to studying BEUV LPP spectral behaviors [8,9,[15][16][17][18], the dependence of plasma temperature on laser intensity and spot size remains poorly understood because of the lack of precise measurements of electron temperature.…”