Optimization of soft x-ray amplifiers by tailoring plasma hydrodynamic

Abstract

Plasma-based soft x-ray lasers have the potentiality to generate high-energy, highly coherent, short pulse beam. Thanks to their high density, plasmas created by interaction of intense laser with solid target should store the highest amount of energy among every plasma amplifiers. However, to date output energy from solid amplifiers remains as low as 60 nJ [1]. For 30 µm micrometer focal line width, we demonstrated with the 2D hydrodynamic code with radiation transport in AMR ARWEN [2] that deleterious hydrodynamic effects, as the lateral expansion and thermal conduction, reduce the amplification surface and the gain coefficient. Thus, carefully tailoring the plasma shape is crucial for extracting energy stored in the plasma. With 1 mm wide plasma, energy as high as 20 µJ in sub-ps pulse is achievable [3]. With such tailored plasma, pumping efficiency has been increased by nearly a factor of 10 as compared to former plasma amplifiers.