Micro x-ray sources from femtosecond laser plasmas

Abstract

Ultrabright and ultrashort x-ray pulses may be used for time resolved studies of phase transitions in materials and potentially for x-ray microscopy applications. Through the interaction of high intensity ultrashort laser pulses (~100fs, 10¹⁵ -10¹⁷ W/cm²) with solid targets, high temperature and high density plasma is formed on the material surface. Electrons are accelerated in the plasma and multi keV x-rays are generated when they interact with the target material. Such hot electrons are produced from resonance absorption and other nonlinear interactions both at the solid density surface and in the underdense plasma. Initial experimental measurements of keV x-ray emission from microplasmas generated by 130fs, 800nm, 0.5mJ Ti:Sapphire laser pulses focused to intensities of ~10¹⁶ -10¹⁷ W/cm² onto a solid target have been carried out. The keV x-ray emission has been characterized both in air and in vacuum. In particular, the scaling of x-ray conversion efficiency and the dependence on pulse energy, angle of incidence and pressure have been studied. The x-ray conversion efficiency improves through the use of a prepulse, indicating that the interactions in the underdense plasma also contribute to hot electron and keV x-ray generation.