Generation of hard x rays by femtosecond laser pulse interaction with solid targets in atmosphere

Alexey G Zhidkov; Sergey A Pikuz Jr; Anatoly Ya Faenov; Oleg V Chefonov; Andrey V Ovchinnikov; Mikhail B Agranat; Arie Zigler

doi:10.1364/OL.37.000884

Generation of hard x rays by femtosecond laser pulse interaction with solid targets in atmosphere

Opt Lett. 2012 Mar 1;37(5):884-6. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.000884.

Authors

Alexey G Zhidkov¹, Sergey A Pikuz Jr, Anatoly Ya Faenov, Oleg V Chefonov, Andrey V Ovchinnikov, Mikhail B Agranat, Arie Zigler

Affiliation

¹ PPC, Osaka University and JST, CREST, 2-1, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

PMID: 22378426
DOI: 10.1364/OL.37.000884

Abstract

X ray radiation as high as 50 keV, including K(α) of Ba and Mo, have been observed from a solid target during the interaction of low energy ~0.65 mJ, 1 kHz 40 femtosecond laser pulses focused in air at atmospheric pressure. Energetic electrons generating such x rays are possibly produced when the field strength in laser pulse wake exceeds the runaway threshold in air. Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that include optical field ionization of air and elastic collisions support this mechanism.