Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 117, Issue 27, Pages 15511-15516Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005360117
Keywords
X-ray laser; amplified spontaneous emission; X-ray cavity; transform-limited pulses
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-76SF00515]
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Oscillators are at the heart of optical lasers, providing stable, transform-limited pulses. Until now, laser oscillators have been available only in the infrared to visible and near-ultraviolet (UV) spectral region. In this paper, we present a study of an oscillator operating in the 5- to 12-keV photon-energy range. We show that, using the K alpha(1) line of transition metal compounds as the gain medium, an X-ray free-electron laser as a periodic pump, and a Bragg crystal optical cavity, it is possible to build X-ray oscillators producing intense, fully coherent, transform-limited pulses. As an example, we consider the case of a copper nitrate gain medium generating similar to 5 x 10(10) photons per pulse with 37-fs pulse length and 48-meV spectral resolution at 8-keV photon energy. Our theo- retical study and simulation of this system show that, because of the very large gain per pass, the oscillator saturates and reaches full coherence in four to six optical-cavity transits. We discuss the feasibility and design of the X-ray optical cavity and other parts of the oscillator needed for its realization, opening the way to extend X-ray-based research beyond current capabilities.
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