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Title: Observation of Reverse Saturable Absorption of an X-ray Laser

Abstract

A nonlinear absorber in which the excited state absorption is larger than the ground state can undergo a process called reverse saturable absorption. It is a well-known phenomenon in laser physics in the optical regime, but is more difficult to generate in the x-ray regime, where fast nonradiative core electron transitions typically dominate the population kinetics during light matter interactions. Here, we report the first observation of decreasing x-ray transmission in a solid target pumped by intense x-ray free electron laser pulses. The measurement has been made below the K-absorption edge of aluminum, and the x-ray intensity ranges are 1016 –1017 W=cm2. It has been confirmed by collisional radiative population kinetic calculations, underscoring the fast spectral modulation of the x-ray pulses and charge states relevant to the absorption and transmission of x-ray photons. The processes shown through detailed simulations are consistent with reverse saturable absorption, which would be the first observation of this phenomena in the x-ray regime. These light matter interactions provide a unique opportunity to investigate optical transport properties in the extreme state of matters, as well as affording the potential to regulate ultrafast x-ray freeelectron laser pulses.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [4];  [6];  [4];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [5];  [8];  [6];  [5] more »;  [5];  [9];  [6] « less
  1. Inst. of Basic Science, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of); Gwangju Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Intl Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna (Austria)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR), Prague (Czech Republic). Inst. of Physics
  5. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  6. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  7. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  8. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  9. European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL), Schenefeld (Germany)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1390622
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1375496
Grant/Contract Number:  
IBS-R012-D1; NRF-2016R1A2B4009631; NRF-2015R1A5A1009962; EP/H035877/1; EP/L000849/1; AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 119; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Cho, B. I., Cho, M. S., Kim, M., Chung, H. -K., Barbrel, B., Engelhorn, K., Burian, T., Chalupský, J., Ciricosta, O., Dakovski, G. L., Hájková, V., Holmes, M., Juha, L., Krzywinski, J., Lee, R. W., Nam, Chang Hee, Rackstraw, D. S., Toleikis, S., Turner, J. J., Vinko, S. M., Wark, J. S., Zastrau, U., and Heimann, P. A. Observation of Reverse Saturable Absorption of an X-ray Laser. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.075002.
Cho, B. I., Cho, M. S., Kim, M., Chung, H. -K., Barbrel, B., Engelhorn, K., Burian, T., Chalupský, J., Ciricosta, O., Dakovski, G. L., Hájková, V., Holmes, M., Juha, L., Krzywinski, J., Lee, R. W., Nam, Chang Hee, Rackstraw, D. S., Toleikis, S., Turner, J. J., Vinko, S. M., Wark, J. S., Zastrau, U., & Heimann, P. A. Observation of Reverse Saturable Absorption of an X-ray Laser. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.075002
Cho, B. I., Cho, M. S., Kim, M., Chung, H. -K., Barbrel, B., Engelhorn, K., Burian, T., Chalupský, J., Ciricosta, O., Dakovski, G. L., Hájková, V., Holmes, M., Juha, L., Krzywinski, J., Lee, R. W., Nam, Chang Hee, Rackstraw, D. S., Toleikis, S., Turner, J. J., Vinko, S. M., Wark, J. S., Zastrau, U., and Heimann, P. A. 2017. "Observation of Reverse Saturable Absorption of an X-ray Laser". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.075002. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1390622.
@article{osti_1390622,
title = {Observation of Reverse Saturable Absorption of an X-ray Laser},
author = {Cho, B. I. and Cho, M. S. and Kim, M. and Chung, H. -K. and Barbrel, B. and Engelhorn, K. and Burian, T. and Chalupský, J. and Ciricosta, O. and Dakovski, G. L. and Hájková, V. and Holmes, M. and Juha, L. and Krzywinski, J. and Lee, R. W. and Nam, Chang Hee and Rackstraw, D. S. and Toleikis, S. and Turner, J. J. and Vinko, S. M. and Wark, J. S. and Zastrau, U. and Heimann, P. A.},
abstractNote = {A nonlinear absorber in which the excited state absorption is larger than the ground state can undergo a process called reverse saturable absorption. It is a well-known phenomenon in laser physics in the optical regime, but is more difficult to generate in the x-ray regime, where fast nonradiative core electron transitions typically dominate the population kinetics during light matter interactions. Here, we report the first observation of decreasing x-ray transmission in a solid target pumped by intense x-ray free electron laser pulses. The measurement has been made below the K-absorption edge of aluminum, and the x-ray intensity ranges are 1016 –1017 W=cm2. It has been confirmed by collisional radiative population kinetic calculations, underscoring the fast spectral modulation of the x-ray pulses and charge states relevant to the absorption and transmission of x-ray photons. The processes shown through detailed simulations are consistent with reverse saturable absorption, which would be the first observation of this phenomena in the x-ray regime. These light matter interactions provide a unique opportunity to investigate optical transport properties in the extreme state of matters, as well as affording the potential to regulate ultrafast x-ray freeelectron laser pulses.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.075002},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1390622}, journal = {Physical Review Letters},
issn = {0031-9007},
number = 7,
volume = 119,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 16 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Aug 16 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:

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Cited by: 10 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: Measurement of x-ray transmission through an aluminum foil target. Each circle represents the data from a single shot. The red line is the known transmission value of cold Al from the CXRO database. The peak intensities of the highest pulse energies (pink circles) correspond to ∼1017 W=cm2.

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Observations of non-linear plasmon damping in dense plasmas
journal, May 2018


Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.