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High-speed Continuous-wave Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Spectrometer for Material Analysis
Published on: September 22, 2017
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X-ray amplification by stimulated Brillouin scattering.
Matthew R Edwards1, Julia M Mikhailova1, Nathaniel J Fisch2
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA.
Physical Review. E
|September 28, 2017
Summary
Plasma-based stimulated Brillouin scattering can amplify X-ray pulses to extreme intensities. This technique enables subfemtosecond X-ray free-electron laser pulse compression, surpassing limitations of other methods.
Area of Science:
- Plasma physics
- X-ray science
- Nonlinear optics
Background:
- Current X-ray sources have intensity limitations.
- Stimulated Raman scattering is limited in the X-ray regime by Landau and collisional damping.
- Parametric amplification offers a path to higher intensity coherent X-ray pulses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate plasma-based parametric amplification using stimulated Brillouin scattering for generating intense coherent X-ray pulses.
- To compare Brillouin amplification with Raman amplification for X-ray generation.
- To explore the potential for compressing X-ray free-electron laser pulses.
Main Methods:
- Analytic predictions of three-wave-coupling equations.
- Numerical solutions of three-wave-coupling equations.
- Particle-in-cell simulations of plasma dynamics.
Main Results:
- Stimulated Brillouin scattering enables amplification of shorter wavelengths with lower pump intensities compared to Raman amplification.
- Brillouin amplification is not significantly limited by Landau and collisional damping in the X-ray regime.
- Simulations suggest feasibility of compressing current X-ray free-electron laser pulses.
Conclusions:
- Plasma-based stimulated Brillouin scattering is a promising method for generating ultra-intense coherent X-ray pulses.
- This technique can overcome limitations of stimulated Raman scattering for X-ray amplification.
- Subfemtosecond X-ray pulse compression and unprecedented intensities are achievable.
