Few-femtosecond resolved imaging of laser-driven nanoplasma expansion

Peltz C, Powell JA, Rupp P, Summers A, Gorkhover T, Gallei M, Halfpap , Antonsson E, Langer B, Trallero-Herrero C, Graf C, Ray D, Liu Q, Osipov T, Bucher M, Ferguson K, Moeller S, Zherebtsov S, Rolles D, Ruehl E, Coslovich G, Coffee RN, Bostedt C, Rudenko A, Kling MF, Fennel T (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

New Journal of Physics Institute of Physics: Open Access Journals / Institute of Physics (IoP) and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft

Book Volume: 24

Article Number: 043024

Journal Issue: 4

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ac5e86

Abstract

The free expansion of a planar plasma surface is a fundamental non-equilibrium process relevant for various fields but as-yet experimentally still difficult to capture. The significance of the associated spatiotemporal plasma motion ranges from astrophysics and controlled fusion to laser machining, surface high-harmonic generation, plasma mirrors, and laser-driven particle acceleration. Here, we show that x-ray coherent diffractive imaging can surpass existing approaches and enables the quantitative real-time analysis of the sudden free expansion of laser-heated nanoplasmas. For laser-ionized SiO2 nanospheres, we resolve the formation of the emerging nearly self-similar plasma profile evolution and expose the so far inaccessible shell-wise expansion dynamics including the associated startup delay and rarefaction front velocity. Our results establish time-resolved diffractive imaging as an accurate quantitative diagnostic platform for tracing and characterizing plasma expansion and indicate the possibility to resolve various laser-driven processes including shock formation and wave-breaking phenomena with unprecedented resolution.

Involved external institutions

Universität Rostock DE Germany (DE) Kansas State University US United States (USA) (US) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) DE Germany (DE) Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) US United States (USA) (US) Universität des Saarlandes (UdS) DE Germany (DE) Freie Universität Berlin DE Germany (DE) Hochschule Darmstadt (h_da) DE Germany (DE) Argonne National Laboratory US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Peltz, C., Powell, J.A., Rupp, P., Summers, A., Gorkhover, T., Gallei, M.,... Fennel, T. (2022). Few-femtosecond resolved imaging of laser-driven nanoplasma expansion. New Journal of Physics, 24(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac5e86

MLA:

Peltz, Christian, et al. "Few-femtosecond resolved imaging of laser-driven nanoplasma expansion." New Journal of Physics 24.4 (2022).

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