The Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser has now achieved coherent X-ray generation down to a wavelength of 1.2 A and at a brightness that is nearly ten orders of magnitude higher than conventional synchrotrons. Researchers detail the first operation and beam characteristics of the system, which give hope for imaging at atomic spatial and temporal scales.

First lasing and operation of an ångstrom-wavelength free-electron laser

This self-contained, comprehensive book describes the fundamental properties of soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and discusses their applications in a wide variety of fields, including EUV lithography for semiconductor chip manufacture and soft x-ray biomicroscopy. The author begins by presenting the relevant basic principles such as radiation and scattering, wave propagation, diffraction, and coherence. He then goes on to examine a broad range of phenomena and applications. The topics covered include EUV lithography, biomicroscopy, spectromicroscopy, EUV astronomy, synchrotron radiation, and soft x-ray lasers. He also provides a great deal of useful reference material such as electron binding energies, characteristic emission lines and photo-absorption cross-sections. The book will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in engineering, physics, chemistry, and the life sciences. It will also appeal to practicing engineers involved in semiconductor fabrication and materials science.

X-Rays and Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation: Principles and Applications

An era of exploring the interactions of high-intensity, hard X-rays with matter has begun with the start-up of a hard-X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Understanding how electrons in matter respond to ultra-intense X-ray radiation is essential for all applications. Here we reveal the nature of the electronic response in a free atom to unprecedented high-intensity, short-wavelength, high-fluence radiation (respectively 10(18) W cm(-2), 1.5-0.6 nm, approximately 10(5) X-ray photons per A(2)). At this fluence, the neon target inevitably changes during the course of a single femtosecond-duration X-ray pulse-by sequentially ejecting electrons-to produce fully-stripped neon through absorption of six photons. Rapid photoejection of inner-shell electrons produces 'hollow' atoms and an intensity-induced X-ray transparency. Such transparency, due to the presence of inner-shell vacancies, can be induced in all atomic, molecular and condensed matter systems at high intensity. Quantitative comparison with theory allows us to extract LCLS fluence and pulse duration. Our successful modelling of X-ray/atom interactions using a straightforward rate equation approach augurs favourably for extension to complex systems.

Femtosecond electronic response of atoms to ultra-intense X-rays

Accurate x-ray scattering techniques to measure the physical properties of dense plasmas have been developed for applications in high energy density physics. This class of experiments produces short-lived hot dense states of matter with electron densities in the range of solid density and higher where powerful penetrating x-ray sources have become available for probing. Experiments have employed laser-based x-ray sources that provide sufficient photon numbers in narrow bandwidth spectral lines, allowing spectrally resolved x-ray scattering measurements from these plasmas. The backscattering spectrum accesses the noncollective Compton scattering regime which provides accurate diagnostic information on the temperature, density, and ionization state. The forward scattering spectrum has been shown to measure the collective plasmon oscillations. Besides extracting the standard plasma parameters, density and temperature, forward scattering yields new observables such as a direct measure of collisions and quantum effects. Dense matter theory relates scattering spectra with the dielectric function and structure factors that determine the physical properties of matter. Applications to radiation-heated and shock-compressed matter have demonstrated accurate measurements of compression and heating with up to picosecond temporal resolution. The ongoing development of suitable x-ray sources and facilities will enable experiments in a wide range of research areas including inertial confinement fusion,more » radiation hydrodynamics, material science, or laboratory astrophysics.« less

X-ray Thomson scattering in high energy density plasmas

The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) was a multi-institution effort established under the National Nuclear Security Administration of DOE in 2005, prior to the completion of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in 2009. The scope of the NIC was the planning and preparation for and the execution of the first 3 yr of ignition experiments (through the end of September 2012) as well as the development, fielding, qualification, and integration of the wide range of capabilities required for ignition. Besides the operation and optimization of the use of NIF, these capabilities included over 50 optical, x-ray, and nuclear diagnostic systems, target fabrication facilities, experimental platforms, and a wide range of NIF facility infrastructure. The goal of ignition experiments on the NIF is to achieve, for the first time, ignition and thermonuclear burn in the laboratory via inertial confinement fusion and to develop a platform for ignition and high energy density applications on the NIF. The goal of the NIC was to develop and integrate all of the capabilities required for a precision ignition campaign and, if possible, to demonstrate ignition and gain by the end of FY12. The goal of achieving ignition can be divided into three main challenges. The first challenge is defining specifications for the target, laser, and diagnostics with the understanding that not all ignition physics is fully understood and not all material properties are known. The second challenge is designing experiments to systematically remove these uncertainties. The third challenge is translating these experimental results into metrics designed to determine how well the experimental implosions have performed relative to expectations and requirements and to advance those metrics toward the conditions required for ignition. This paper summarizes the approach taken to address these challenges, along with the progress achieved to date and the challenges that remain. At project completion in 2009, NIF lacked almost all the diagnostics and infrastructure required for ignition experiments. About half of the 3 yr period covered in this review was taken up by the effort required to install and performance qualify the equipment and experimental platforms needed for ignition experiments. Ignition on the NIF is a grand challenge undertaking and the results presented here represent a snapshot in time on the path toward that goal. The path forward presented at the end of this review summarizes plans for the Ignition Campaign on the NIF, which were adopted at the end of 2012, as well as some of the key results obtained since the end of the NIC.

Review of the National Ignition Campaign 2009-2012

The Imaging Spectroscopy Snout (ISS) used at the National Ignition Facility is able to simultaneously collect neutron pinhole images, 1D spatially resolved x-ray spectra, and time resolved x-ray pinhole images. To measure the x-ray spectra, the ISS can be equipped with up to four different transmission crystals, each offering different energy ranges from ∼7.5 to ∼12 keV and different resolutions. Characterizing and calibrating such instruments is of paramount importance in order to extract meaningful results from experiments. More specifically, we characterized different ISS transmission-type alpha-Quartz crystals by measuring their responses as a function of photon energy, from which we inferred the angle-integrated reflectivity for each crystal's working reflections. These measurements were made at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory calibration station dedicated to the characterization of x-ray spectrometers. The sources used covered a wide x-ray range-from a few to 30 keV; the source diameter was ∼0.6 mm. The experimental results are discussed alongside theoretical calculations using the pyTTE model.

Crystal response measurement of the x-ray transmission crystals used by the Imaging Spectroscopy Snout at the National Ignition Facility.

Lawrence Livermore's adaptive x-ray optics program is building a 45-actuator, 45-cm long, x-ray DM, as well as analyzing WFS and DM designs with use of a new wave optics simulation.

T. McCarville

Papers

Crystal response measurement of the x-ray transmission crystals used by the Imaging Spectroscopy Snout at the National Ignition Facility.

Adaptive x-ray optics at Lawrence Livermore