Peer-Review Publications

The inverse Compton scattering of laser light on high-energetic twisted electrons is investigated with the aim to construct spatially structured x-ray beams. In particular, we analyze how the properties of the twisted electrons, such as the topological charge and aperture angle of the electron Bessel beam, affect the energy and angular distribution of scattered x rays. We show that with suitably chosen initial twisted electron states one can synthesize tailor-made x-ray beam profiles with a well-defined spatial structure, in a way not possible with ordinary plane-wave electron beams.

The potential of borate crystals, BBO, LBO and BiBO, for high average power scaling of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers is investigated. Up-to-date measurements of the absorption coefficients at 515 nm and the thermal conductivities are presented. The measured absorption coefficients are a factor of 10–100 lower than reported by the literature for BBO and LBO. For BBO, a large variation of the absorption coefficients was found between crystals from different manufacturers. The linear and nonlinear absorption coefficients at 515 nm as well as thermal conductivities were determined for the first time for BiBO. Further, different crystal cooling methods are presented. In addition, the limits to power scaling of OPCPAs are discussed.

We present a compact interferometric autocorrelator that allows the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses in the visible light domain (370–740nm). The presented device uses a GaN photodiode with corresponding two-photon absorption. Different GaN and AlGaN photodiodes were characterized for this purpose. Despite AlGaN diodes have a better matched bandgap for this application, we have found that only the GaN diodes show sufficient nonlinear behavior. Using the autocorrelator we were able to characterize ultrashort frequency doubled Ti:Sapphire laser pulses with a pulse duration down to 18fs in the second harmonic having just a few hundred nanojoules of pulse energy. The broadband behavior and extension towards the UV along with the need for only low energetic pulses are the novelties of this device.

Coherent combination of ultrashort laser pulses emitted from spatially separated amplifiers is a promising power-scaling technique for ultrafast laser systems. It has been successfully applied to fiber amplifiers, since guidance of the signal provides the advantage of an excellent beam quality and straightforward superposition of beams as compared to bulk-type amplifier implementations. Herein we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, a two-channel combining scheme employing Yb:YAG single-crystal rod amplifiers as an energy booster in a fiber chirped-pulse amplification system. In this proof-of-principle experiment, combined and compressed pulses with a duration of 695 fs and an energy of 3 mJ (3.7 GW of peak power) are obtained. The combining efficiency is as high as 94% and the beam quality of the combined output is characterized by a measured M2-value of 1.2.

The coherent combination of ultrashort pulses has recently been established as a technique to overcome the limitations of laser amplifiers regarding pulse peak-power, pulse energy, and average power. Similar limitations also occur in nonlinear compression setups. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we show that the techniques developed for the combination of amplifiers can be adapted to nonlinear compression. We create two spatially separated pulse replica that undergo self-phase modulation in independent optical fibers and are recombined afterwards. Using this technique we demonstrate operation above the self-focusing threshold of a single pulse. Furthermore, we prove that the recombined pulses can be temporally compressed. This experiment paves the way for higher energy or average power operation of various nonlinear compression setups.

A scheme for producing collimated protons from laser interactions with a diamond-like-carbon + pinhole target is proposed. The process is based on radiation pressure acceleration in the multi-species light-sail regime [B. Qiao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 155002 (2010); T. P. Yu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 065002 (2010)]. Particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that transverse quasistatic electric field at TV/m level can be generated in the pinhole. The transverse electric field suppresses the transverse expansion of protons effectively, resulting in a higher density and more collimated proton beam compared with a single foil target. The dependence of the proton beam divergence on the parameters of the pinhole is also investigated.

A novel design for a compact gamma-ray spectrometer is presented. The proposed system allows for spectroscopy of high-flux multi-MeV gamma-ray beams with MeV energy resolution in a compact design. In its basic configuration, the spectrometer exploits conversion of gamma-rays into electrons via Compton scattering in a low-Z material. The scattered electron population is then spectrally resolved using a magnetic spectrometer. The detector is shown to be effective for gamma-ray energies between 3 and 20 MeV. The main properties of the spectrometer are confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations.

In this paper the development and implementation of a novel amplifier setup as an additional stage for the CPA pump laser of the Petawatt Field Synthesizer, currently developed at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, is presented. This amplifier design comprises 20 relay-imaged passes through the active medium which are arranged in rotational symmetry. As the gain material, an in-house-developed Yb:YAG active-mirror is used. With this setup, stretched 4 ns seed pulses are amplified to output energies exceeding 1 J with repetition rates of up to 2 Hz. Furthermore, a spectral bandwidth of 3.5 nm (FWHM) is maintained during amplification and the compression of the pulses down to their Fourier-limit of 740 fs is achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of 1 TW pulses generated via CPA in diode-pumped Yb:YAG.

Resonances in the photoabsorption spectrum of the generating medium can modify the spectrum of high-order harmonics. In particular, window-type Fano resonances can reduce photoabsorption within a narrow spectral region and, consequently, lead to an enhanced emission of high-order harmonics in absorption-limited generation conditions. For high harmonic generation in argon it is shown that the 3s3p6np1P1 window resonances (n=4, 5, 6) give rise to enhanced photon yield. In particular, the 3s3p64p1P1 resonance at 26.6  eV allows a relative enhancement up to a factor of 30 in a 100 meV bandwidth compared to the characteristic photon emission of the neighboring harmonic order. This enhanced, spectrally isolated, and coherent photon emission line has a relative energy bandwidth of only ΔE/E=3×10^−3. Therefore, it might be very useful for applications such as precision spectroscopy or coherent diffractive imaging. The presented mechanism can be employed for tailoring and controlling the high harmonic emission of manifold target materials.

Here, we report results of an experiment creating a transient, highly correlated carbon state using a combination of optical and x-ray lasers. Scattered x-rays reveal a highly ordered state with an electrostatic energy significantly exceeding the thermal energy of the ions. Strong Coulomb forces are predicted to induce nucleation into a crystalline ion structure within a few picoseconds. However, we observe no evidence of such phase transition after several tens of picoseconds but strong indications for an over-correlated fluid state. The experiment suggests a much slower nucleation and points to an intermediate glassy state where the ions are frozen close to their original positions in the fluid.

We present a novel and highly sensitive method to determine the residual angular dispersion of high-power laser pulses after stretching, amplification, and re-compression of the pulses in a chirped-pulse amplification laser system. This method is based on the intentional deflection of a part of the the spectrum within the compressor and aligning the centers of gravity of the two resulting and separated foci with largest possible spectral separation in the far field. Using this technique, we were able to reduce the residual angular dispersion on pulses to less than 0.05 μrad/nm in the vertical plane and less than 0.03 μrad/nm in the horizontal plane, respectively. With this method, it is possible to minimize the deviation of the actual peak intensity for the focused laser pulses to less than 2% of its theoretical limit.

The dissociative ionization of N 2 O by near-single-cycle laser pulses is studied using phase-tagged ion–ion coincidence momentum imaging. Carrier–envelope phase (CEP) dependences are observed in the absolute ion yields and the emission direction of nearly all ionization and dissociation pathways of the triatomic molecule. We find that laser-field-driven electron recollision has a significant impact on the dissociative ionization dynamics and results in pronounced CEP modulations in the dication yields, which are observed in the product ion yields after dissociation. The results indicate that the directional emission of coincident ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/16/6/065017/njp494655ieqn1.gif] N^+ and ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/16/6/065017/njp494655ieqn2.gif] \rm N\rm O^+ ions in the denitrogenation of the dication can be explained by selective ionization of oriented molecules. The deoxygenation of the dication with the formation of coincident ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/16/6/065017/njp494655ieqn3.gif] N₂^+ + ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/16/6/065017/njp494655ieqn4.gif] O^+ ions exhibits an additional shift in its CEP dependence, suggesting that this channel is further influenced by laser interaction with the dissociating dication. The experimental results demonstrate how few-femtosecond dynamics can drive and steer molecular reactions taking place on (much) longer time scales.

The development, the underlying technology and the current status of the fully diode-pumped solid-state laser system POLARIS is reviewed. Currently, the POLARIS system delivers 4 J energy, 144 fs long laser pulses with an ultra-high temporal contrast of 5×10^12 for the ASE, which is achieved using a so-called double chirped-pulse amplification scheme and cross-polarized wave generation pulse cleaning. By tightly focusing, the peak intensity exceeds 3.5×10^20 W cm^−2. These parameters predestine POLARIS as a scientific tool well suited for sophisticated experiments, as exemplified by presenting measurements of accelerated proton energies. Recently, an additional amplifier has been added to the laser chain. In the ramp-up phase, pulses from this amplifier are not yet compressed and have not yet reached the anticipated energy. Nevertheless, an output energy of 16.6 J has been achieved so far.

The use of plasmas provides a way to overcome the damage threshold of classical solid-state based optical materials which is the main limitation encountered in producing extreme power laser pulses. In particular one can use plasmas to directly amplify ultra-short laser pulses to very high intensities. Multi-dimensional kinetic simulations and first proof-of-principle experiments show the feasibility of using plasma instabilities involving ion waves, such as stimulated Brillouin backscattering, in a controlled way to transfer energy from a long pump pulse to a short seed pulse and thereby increase the intensity of the latter. Plasma parametric amplification, and the use of plasma mirrors for focusing, is part of the newly developping domain of plasma optics, which eventually will pave the way to Exawatt lasers.

We report on successful joining of a beta barium borate crystal by plasma-activated direct bonding. Based on this technology, a sandwich structure consisting of a beta barium borate crystal, joined with two sapphire heat spreaders has been fabricated. Due to the high thermal conductivity of sapphire, the sandwich structure possesses superior thermal properties compared to the single crystal. Simulations based on the finite element method indicate a significant reduction of thermal gradients and the resulting mechanical stresses. A proof of principle experiment demonstrates the high power capability of the fabricated structure. A pulsed fiber laser emitting up to 253 W average power has been frequency doubled with both a single BBO crystal and the fabricated sandwich structure. The bonded stack showed better heat dissipation and less thermo-optical beam distortion than the single crystal. The work demonstrates the huge potential of optical sandwich structures with enhanced functionality. In particular, frequency conversion at average powers in the kW range with excellent beam quality will be feasible in future.

We present the first complete temporal and spatial characterization of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of laser radiation generated by a diode-pumped high-power laser system. The ASE of the different amplifiers was measured independently from the main pulse and was characterized within a time window of \minus10ms łeq t łeq 10ms and an accuracy of up to 15fs around the main pulse. Furthermore, the focusability and the energy of the ASE from each amplifier was measured after recompression. Using our analysis method, the laser components, which need to be optimized for a further improvement of the laser contrast, can be identified. This will be essential for laser-matter interaction experiments requiring a minimized ASE intensity or fluence.

We demonstrate the instability-free ion acceleration regime by introducing laser control with two parallel circularly polarized laser pulses at an intensity of I = 6.8 × 10^21 W/cm2, normally incident on a hydrogen foil. The special structure of the equivalent wave front of those two pulses, which contains Gaussian peaks in both sides and a concavity in the centre (2D), can suppress the transverse instabilities and hole boring effects to constrain a high density ion clump in the centre of the foil, leading to an acceleration over a long distance and gain above 1 GeV/u for the ion bunches.

Although different ion-atom collisions have been studied in various contexts, precise values of cross-sections for many atomic processes were seldom obtained. One of the main uncertainties originates from the value of target densities. In this paper, we describe a unique method to measure a target density precisely with a combination of physical vapor deposition and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. This method is preliminarily applied to a charge transfer cross-section measurement in collisions between highly charged ions and magnesium vapor. The final relative uncertainty of the target density is less than 2.5%. This enables the precise studies of atomic processes in ion-atom collisions, even though in the trial test the deduction of precise capture cross-sections was limited by other systematic errors.

We report here on the results of Monte-Carlo simulations of the radiative recombination of highly charged ions with low-energy electrons in the presence of a guiding magnetic field. The simulations are based on a semi-classical geometrical model, recently proposed by our group, which has been developed in order to explain systematic discrepancies, the so-called ‘enhancement effect’, of the radiative recombination rates measured in the guiding magnetic field of electron coolers with respect to theoretical calculations. With the simulations, we demonstrate that the enhancement of radiative recombination rates in the magnetic field could be caused by ‘transverse’ collisions with the impact parameter in the μm range and the impact parameter cut-off value depending on the strength of the guiding B -field in magnetized plasma. In this paper, the methodology of the simulations, the obtained B -field dependence of the radiative recombination enhancement and the observed impact parameter cut-off will be discussed.

Recent advances in the production of twisted electron beams with a subnanometer spot size offer unique opportunities to explore the role of orbital angular momentum in basic atomic processes. In the present work, we address one of these processes: radiative recombination of twisted electrons with bare ions. On the basis of the density matrix formalism and the non-relativistic Schrödinger theory, analytical expressions are derived for the angular distribution and the linear polarization of photons emitted due to the capture of twisted electrons into the ground state of (hydrogen-like) ions. We show that these angular and polarization distributions are sensitive to both the transverse momentum and the topological charge of the electron beam. To observe in particular the value of this charge, we propose an experiment that makes use of the coherent superposition of two twisted beams.

Mode instabilities (MIs) have quickly become the most limiting effect for the average power scaling of nearly diffraction-limited beams from state-of-the-art fiber laser systems. In this work it is shown that, by using an advanced multicore photonic crystal fiber design, the threshold power of MIs can be increased linearly with the number of cores. An average output power of 536 W, corresponding to 4 times the threshold power of a single core, is demonstrated.

Spectral broadening in gas-filled hollow-core fibers is discussed for sulfur hexafluoride, a molecular gas with Raman activity. Experimental results for compressed pulses are presented for input pulses longer than the Raman period and shorter than the dephasing time at a central wavelength of 800 nm and 400 nm, respectively. For both wavelengths we compress the pulses by a factor of three and maintain a good pulse quality. The obtained results are of interest for compressing pulses generated with Yb doped lasers.

Experiments performed with different vortex pump beams show for the first time the algebra of the vortex topological charge cascade, that evolves in the process of nonlinear wave mixing of optical vortex beams in Kerr media due to competition of four-wave mixing with self-and cross-phase modulation. This leads to the coherent generation of complex singular beams within a spectral bandwidth larger than 200nm. Our experimental results are in good agreement with frequency-domain numerical calculations that describe the newly generated spectral satellites.

We calculate the left-right asymmetry of the photoelectron momentum distributions generated in a hydrogen atom exposed to an intense few-cycle laser pulse as a function of both the carrier-envelope phase and the laser intensity. We present results of the numerical solution of the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrodingere equation, semiclassical simulations accounting for both laser and Coulomb fields, and the strong-field approximation. We predict pronounced oscillations of the asymmetry parameter as a function of the intensity for a particular range of the carrier-envelope phase. In order to reveal the mechanism underlying these oscillations, we investigate in detail the electron momentum distributions in the one-dimensional case. We show that quantum interference among a large set of both bound and continuum field-free states is responsible for the oscillatory behavior of the left-right asymmetry.

Besides intensity and direction, the polarization of an electromagnetic wave provides characteristic information on the crossed medium. Here, we present two methods for the determination of the polarization state of x rays by polarizers based on anomalous transmission (Borrmann effect). Using a polarizer-analyzer setup, we have measured a polarization purity of less than 1.5 × 10^−5, three orders of magnitude better than obtained in earlier work. Using the analyzer crystal in multiple-beam case with slightly detuned azimuth, we show how the first three Stokes parameters can be determined with a single angular scan. Thus, polarization analyzers based on anomalous transmission make it possible to detect changes of the polarization in a range from degrees down to arcseconds.