Abstract
The interaction of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) laser beam with a parylene foil was studied by experiments and simulation. A single EUV laser pulse of nanosecond duration focused to an intensity of 3 × 1010 W cm−2 perforated micrometer thick targets. The same laser pulse was simultaneously used to diagnose the interaction by a transmission measurement. A combination of 2-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic and diffraction calculations was used to model the ablation, leading to good agreement with experiment. This theoretical approach allows predictive modelling of the interaction with matter of intense EUV beams over a broad range of parameters.
Highlights
The interactions of intense laser beams with matter have been the subject of active study since the invention of the laser.[1,2] They are of great importance to fundamental science as well as for numerous applications
Measuring the laser beam transmission through the targets enables a measure of the target ablation unaffected by late time target shock damage, as the unablated target material is opaque to the laser radiation
The feasibility of using a single pulse to create and diagnose a dense plasma has been demonstrated by imaging its transmission through a thin target
Summary
The interactions of intense laser beams with matter have been the subject of active study since the invention of the laser.[1,2] They are of great importance to fundamental science as well as for numerous applications. The development of intense sources of extreme ultraviolet (EUV)/soft x-ray radiation has motivated interest in the study of laser-plasma interactions at short wavelengths.[3,4,5,6,7,8,9] We consider in this paper the interaction of table-top, high repetition rate EUV/soft x-ray lasers[10,11,12,13] with solid targets Such lasers can enable fundamental studies and be utilized for applications such as nanomachining[14,15] and the development of nanoprobes.[16,17,18]. We present the results of experiments undertaken with an argon capillary discharge laser, producing nanosecond pulses at a wavelength of 46.9 nm, focused onto thin parylene-N targets. This type of plastic contains equal proportions of hydrogen and carbon, which simplifies radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. We have used spherical multilayer mirrors to focus the laser so as to increase the focused irradiance to above 1010 W cm−2
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