DOE OSTI · 2575168
Attosecond inner-shell lasing at ångström wavelengths
Abstract
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 Kα 1 (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 (>10 19 W cm −2 ) XFEL-driven Kα 1 lasing of copper and manganese. Depending on the temporal XFEL pump pulse substructure, the resulting X-ray pulses (about 10 6 −10 8 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.
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Linker, Thomas M. [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)] (ORCID:0000000205044876), Halavanau, Aliaksei [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000258799578), Kroll, Thomas [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)], Benediktovitch, Andrei [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science] (ORCID:000000016599354X), Zhang, Yu [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering Institute (PULSE)] (ORCID:0000000179593213), Michine, Yurina [Univ. of Electro-Communications, Tokyo (Japan)], Chuchurka, Stasis [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science], Abhari, Zain [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)] (ORCID:0000000282100042), Ronchetti, Daniele [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science; Univ. of Hamburg (Germany); Friedrich Schiller Univ., Jena (Germany)] (ORCID:0009000317052202), Fransson, Thomas [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)], Weninger, Clemens [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS); Lund Univ. (Sweden)], Fuller, Franklin D. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)], Aquila, Andy [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)] (ORCID:0000000303582774), Alonso-Mori, Roberto [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)] (ORCID:0000000253570934), Boutet, Sébastien [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)] (ORCID:0000000339281244), Guetg, Marc W. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000197230467), Marinelli, Agostino [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000272484652), Lutman, Alberto A. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000157919198), Yabashi, Makina [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Sayo, Hyogo (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000224721684), Inoue, Ichiro [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)], Osaka, Taito [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000305459737), Yamada, Jumpei [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Osaka Univ. (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000254764327), Inubushi, Yuichi [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan); Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Sayo, Hyogo (Japan)], Yamaguchi, Gota [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan)] (ORCID:000000034305807X), Hara, Toru [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Sayo (Japan)], Babu, Ganguli [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)], Salpekar, Devashish [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000237368170), Sayed, Farheen N. [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)], Ajayan, Pulickel M. [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000183237860), Kern, Jan [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000272721603), Yano, Junko [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000163089071), Yachandra, Vittal K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000239837858), Kling, Matthias F. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000217100775), Pellegrini, Claudio [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)], Yoneda, Hitoki [Univ. of Electro-Communications, Tokyo (Japan)], Rohringer, Nina [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Center for Free-Electron Laser Science; Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000179053567), Bergmann, Uwe [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)] (ORCID:000000015639166X). 2025-06-11. Attosecond inner-shell lasing at ångström wavelengths. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09105-9
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