Project goals
Extending the concept of a laser chain to the XUV range
The TUIXS project aims to produce ultra-bright tabletop coherent XUV sources for femto-biology and related applications. It is an European Community FP6-New Emerging Science and Technology (NEST) funded project with contract number 012841.
The
heart of this project is the achievement of new ultra-intense XUV sources
adapted to femto-biology and also many other fields (plasma, solid state,
dilute phase or non-linear Physics, astrophysics, etc). Small, extremely intense
XUV sources will have a significant impact on a very broad area in science
and industry.
In the first step, we will dramatically increase the intensity available
from High Harmonic Generation (HHG) or plasma-based soft x-ray laser by several
orders of magnitude compared to the present state, by combining novel tunable
HHG generation and subsequent amplification in laser plasma. The source development
consists of high risk/high impact approach for Ultra-Intense, tabletop, XUV
generation, extending the concept of a laser chain to the XUV range. Using
HHG as a seed (oscillator), and a perfectly controlled laser-produced plasma
as an amplifier, our goal is to generate 100 fs pulses with energy of 0.1
to 1.0 mJ near 13 nm, with high quality wave front and good reproducibility.
The tremendous potential of this source will be directly demonstrated in biological
flash imaging and in novel High Field experiments.
These new sources represent a technological leap on both XUV sources and laser chains, extending the high intensity domain to the XUV range on small-scale facilities. The brightness of the amplified harmonic beam will be at the same level as the first-stage VUV-FEL, enabling many European groups to start research linked to this cutting-edge development in laser science.
TUIXS is sub-divided into 5 workpackages
Each of these WP being a brick towards the creation of the first XUV laser chain.
- WP1 « Design and implementation of soft x-ray amplifying chain » is the heart of TUIXS. In this workpackage, numerical experiments are performed such as to guide the realisation of our future XUV laser chain. Our numerical codes (hydrodynamic and ray-trace) are fed with data from benchmarking experiments from WP3 and WP4. On a second period, we will implement the chain and test its performances.
- WP2 « Development and implementation of XUV wave front control optics » is the technological part of TUIXS with the improvement of the XUV wave front sensor as well as the achievement of XUV adaptive optics that might be necessary to achieve high quality wave front as required for (sub) µm focusing.
- WP3 « Improvement of the HHG seed » is somehow the first brik of our project and of our XUV laser chain. The High harmonic beam must have optical qualities as good as possible since they will be kept after amplification. Also, the spectral width and tuning is crucial for optimal coupling between the seed and the plasma amplifier. MORE
- WP4 « Optimisation of the soft x-ray amplifiers » is the last part of the amplifying chain. The amplifier must fulfill three requirements : increase the XUV beam energy by several orders of magnitude, do not increase the pulse width above 100 fs, keep the HHG beam quality.
- WP5 « Paving the way towards femtobiology » is the last, but not least, part of our project. WP5 is the the ultimate test for the development of our XUV laser chain and is also the open window to future users. Femtobiology in TUIXs consists in starting and/or improving the imagery of biological sample with femtosecond timescale. WP5 is probably the most demanding but also the most rewarding WP. MORE