Attosecond inner-shell lasing at ångström wavelengths

Journal Article · Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09105-9· OSTI ID:2575168

Linker, Thomas M. ^[1]; Halavanau, Aliaksei ^[2]; Kroll, Thomas ^[3]; Benediktovitch, Andrei ^[4]; Zhang, Yu ^[5]; Michine, Yurina ^[6]; Chuchurka, Stasis ^[4]; Abhari, Zain ^[7]; Ronchetti, Daniele ^[8]; Fransson, Thomas ^[9]; Weninger, Clemens ^[10]; Fuller, Franklin D. ^[11]; Aquila, Andy ^[11]; Alonso-Mori, Roberto ^[11]; Boutet, Sébastien ^[11]; Guetg, Marc W. ^[2]; Marinelli, Agostino ^[2]; Lutman, Alberto A. ^[2]; Yabashi, Makina ^[12]; Inoue, Ichiro ^[13] ; Osaka, Taito ^[14]; Yamada, Jumpei ^[15]; Inubushi, Yuichi ^[12]; Yamaguchi, Gota ^[14]; Hara, Toru ^[14]; Babu, Ganguli ^[16]; Salpekar, Devashish ^[16]; Sayed, Farheen N. ^[16]; Ajayan, Pulickel M. ^[16]; Kern, Jan ^[17]; Yano, Junko ^[17]; Yachandra, Vittal K. ^[17]; Kling, Matthias F. ^[18]; Pellegrini, Claudio ^[2]; Yoneda, Hitoki ^[6]; Rohringer, Nina ^[19]; Bergmann, Uwe ^[7]

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1. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering Institute (PULSE); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
2. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
3. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)
4. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science
5. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering Institute (PULSE)
6. Univ. of Electro-Communications, Tokyo (Japan)
7. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
8. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science; Univ. of Hamburg (Germany); Friedrich Schiller Univ., Jena (Germany)
9. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering Institute (PULSE); KTH Royal Inst. of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)
10. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS); Lund Univ. (Sweden)
11. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)
12. RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Sayo, Hyogo (Japan)
13. RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)
14. RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan)
15. RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Osaka Univ. (Japan)
16. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
17. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
18. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
19. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science; Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)

Since the invention of the laser, nonlinear effects such as filamentation, Rabi cycling and collective emission have been explored in the optical regime, leading to a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have extended many optical techniques to X-rays for their advantages of ångström-scale spatial resolution and elemental specificity. An example is XFEL-driven inner-shell Kα₁ (2p_3/2 → 1s_1/2) X-ray lasing in elements ranging from neon to copper, which has been used for nonlinear spectroscopy and development of new X-ray laser sources. Here, in this study, we show that strong lasing effects similar to those in the optical regime can occur at 1.5–2.1 Å wavelengths during high-intensity (>10¹⁹ W cm⁻²) XFEL-driven Kα₁ lasing of copper and manganese. Depending on the temporal XFEL pump pulse substructure, the resulting X-ray pulses (about 10⁶−10⁸ photons) can exhibit strong spatial inhomogeneities and spectral splitting, inhomogeneities and broadening. Three-dimensional Maxwell–Bloch calculations show that the observed spatial inhomogeneities result from X-ray filamentation and that the broad spectral features are driven by sub-femtosecond Rabi cycling. Our simulations indicate that these X-ray pulses can have pulse lengths of less than 100 attoseconds and coherence properties that provide opportunities for quantum X-ray optics applications.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres; JPSJ KAKENHI; JST PRESTO; Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute; National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); National Institutes of Health (NIH); US Department of Energy; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22), Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division (SC-22.1); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division (CSGB); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; SC0023270; SC0023585
• OSTI ID: 2575168
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2584091
• Journal Information: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 8069 Vol. 642; ISSN 1476-4687; ISSN 0028-0836
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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