ERC XSTREAM – Zeptosecond X-ray Frontier

ERC XSTREAM – Zeptosecond X-ray Frontier

Quantum Design of Coherent X-ray Light for the Second Quantum Revolution in 21st Century

EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

STARTING GRANT
XSTREAM: X-ray-waveforms at the Space-Time Resolution Extreme for Atomic-scale Movies

Attosecond-to-femtosecond X-ray pulse generated in a photonic fiber filled with gas using an intense UV laser beam confined inside the hollow revolver structure.

Nonlinear and extreme-nonlinear optics revolutionized the ability to create non-diverging, coherent beams with tunable spectral and temporal properties and spin and orbital angular momentum, particularly in the electromagnetic spectral regions where lasers based on conventional population inversion are not practical. New breakthroughs in attosecond science and extreme nonlinear optics promise a similar revolution in the X-ray regime using novel laboratory-scale ultrafast lasers.

            In the European Research Council project XSTREAM, the fundamental atomic, phase matching, and group velocity matching limits of the process of high-order harmonic generation in the multi-keV X-ray regime will be explored using some of the most promising quantum design approaches in extreme nonlinear optics: X-rays driven by mid-infrared lasers, X-rays driven by ultraviolet lasers, and X-rays with tunable angular momentum using frequency and polarization mixing of ultrafast driving laser pulses. The knowledge gained in this ERC project is expected identify the best quantum designs moving forward to generate bright coherent X-ray beams on a tabletop at photon energies of 1-10 keV and greater with unprecedented attosecond-to-zeptosecond (10-18 – 10-21 seconds) spectral bandwidths and tunable angular momentum state. The development of high-energy high-power driving lasers based on scalable Yb-platforms at kHz repetition rate and also over extended wavelength range under XSTREAM is essential for investigating the limits of high harmonic generation, as well as for future applications.

This ERC research project is very relevant to several areas of interest, covering academic, industrial, and defense programs. Generating bright fully coherent light in the soft and hard X-ray region of the spectrum will support the development of cutting-edge nano-electronics and integrated circuits, new generation data storage devices key to the industry and academia, novel lightweight photovoltaics for energy generation, and advanced bio-sensing and medical imaging with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. This unique light will assist in directly observing function through 5 dimensional imaging – on the nanoscale with femtosecond or higher temporal resolution, and with effective 5th dimension of elemental and chemical specificity. In materials, heterogeneity is frequently a prerequisite for emergent behavior. At the same time, long-range correlations, hot spots, disorder, imperfect interfaces, and impurities can dominate the properties of nano-systems – in magnetics, superconducting materials, photovoltaics, batteries, etc. Design rules for future nano-systems that operate at fundamental limits of density, efficiency, and speed can be formulated as nanoscale structure and dynamics in heterogeneous systems are captured and understood using the XSTREAM novel light tools. In perspective, compact, well-directed light beams of laser-like hard X-rays would also allow for remote delivery of a beam of highly penetrating X-ray radiation that can be used for standoff detection.

State-of-the-art coherent quantum version of the Roentgen X-ray tube with exquisite control of classical and quantum properties of the X-ray laser light. Strong field physics meets attosecond quantum optics.

State-of-the-art ultrafast Yb-based laser systems. Dr. Dimitar Pomintchev and Dr. Edgar Kaksis.

Inventing a fully spatially and temporally coherent version of the Roentgen X-ray tube, which also provides exquisite control of all classical and quantum properties of the generated X-ray light, is a central part of the short and long-term research of XSTREAM. A versatile light source with tunable spectral, spatial, and temporal shape, and angular momentum, promises to be both a conceptual revolution in attosecond science and extreme nonlinear optics, as well as an essential tool for the Second Quantum Revolution in the 21stcentury.

Team:
Principal Investigator
Prof. Tenio Popmintchev
Postdoctoral scholars
Dr. Dimitar Popmintchev
Dr. Tobias Flöry

  1. Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Alba de las Heras, Sirius Song, Aleksandar Prodanov, Zhihan Wu, Carlos Hernández-García, Luis Plaja, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, “Double Electron Recombination in Strongly Correlated System: Extended Secondary Plateau in UV-Driven High Harmonic Generation in the Soft X-ray Regime”, Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2023 (FiO, LS) Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2023), paper FTh3C.6. https://doi.org/10.1364/FIO.2023.FTh3C.6
  2. Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Alba de las Heras, Sirius Song, Aleksander Prodanov, Zhihan Wu, Carlos Hernández-García, Luis Plaja, Dimitar Popmintchev, and Tenio Popmintchev, “Quantum Optics Regime of Coherent X-ray Generation with Strongly Correlated Electron Dynamics in Helium Atoms”, (to be submitted) (2023).
  3. Alba de las Heras, Carlos Hernández-García, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, Luis Plaja, “Quantum Optics Regime of Coherent EUV – X-ray Generation with Attosecond Rabi Oscillations using Extreme UV Lasers”, (to be submitted) (2023).
  4. Dimitar Popmintchev, Aref Imani, Paolo Carpegiani, Joris Roman, Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Sirius Song, Ryan Clairmont, Zhihan Wu, Elizaveta Gangrskaia, Edgar Kaksis, Tobias Flöry, Audrius PugžLys, Andrius Baltuška, Tenio Popmintchev, “Continuously Red-Shift and Blue-Shift Wavelength-Tunable, Narrowband, High Harmonics in the EUV – X-ray Regime for Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopies”, (submitted) arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.01182 (2023). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.01182
  5. Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Sirius Song, Alexander Atanassov, Zhihan Wu, Will Brunner, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, “High-performance ultrafast pulse compression in the visible spectral range for extreme nonlinear optics at kHz-MHz repetition rates”, (submitted) arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.01164 (2023). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.01164
  6. Dimitar Popmintchev, Aref Imani, Paolo Carpegiani, Joris Roman, Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Sirius Song, Ryan Clairmont, Ayush Singh, Edgar Kaksis, Tobias FlÖry, Audrius Pugzlys, Andrius Baltuska, Tenio Popmintchev, “Ultrafast Ultraviolet C and Visible Laser Light with Broadly Tunable Spectrum”, (submitted) arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.00434 (2023). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.00434
  7. Jie Li, Kui Li, Xiaoshi Zhang, Ruixuan Li, Guangyin Zhang, Chenxia Yun, Yongjun Ma, Zhinan Zeng, Changjun Ke, Yunfeng Ma, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, and Zhongwei Fan, “Efficient and aberration-free off-plane grating spectrometer and monochromator for EUV – soft X-ray applications”, Nature Light: Science & Applications, Highly efficient and aberration-free off-plane grating spectrometer and monochromator for EUV—soft X-ray applications. Nature Light Science & Applications 13, 12 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-023-01342-9
  8. Lyuben S Petrov, Dimitar Velkov, Kaloyan Georgiev, Anton Trifonov, Xiaodong Xu, Tenio Popmintchev, Ivan Buchvarov, “High Performance Ytterbium Regenerative Amplifier Based on Yb:CALYO with 2 mJ 90 fs Pulses for Ultrafast Applications”, (to be submitted) (2023).
  9. Aref Imani, Alessandra Bellissimo, Paolo Antonio Carpeggiani, Edgar Kaksis, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, Audrius Pugzlys, Andrius Baltuska, “Yb-laser Driven High Harmonic Generation and Applications in Magnetic Imaging and to monitor the Electron Dynamics in complex systems”, AttoChem Young Scientist Symposium 2023 https://attoyss2023.github.io/
  10. Lyuben S Petrov, Kaloyan Georgiev, Dimitar Velkov, Anton Trifonov, Xiaodong Xu, Tenio Popmintchev, Ivan Buchvarov, “Multi-millijoule class, high repetition rate, Yb: CALYO regenerative amplifier with sub-130 fs pulses”, Optics Express 31 (12), 18765-18772 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.487923
  11. Dimitar Popmintchev, Siyang Wang, Xiaoshi Zhang, Ventzislav Stoev, Tenio Popmintchev, “Analytical Lah-Laguerre optical formalism for perturbative chromatic dispersion”, Optics Express 30 (22), 40779-40808 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.457139
  12. Dimitar Popmintchev, Paolo Carpeggiani, Valentina Shumakova, Aref Imani, Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Will Brunner, Edgar Kaksis, Tobias Flöry, Audrius Pugžlys, Andrius Baltuška, Tenio Popmintchev, “Continuously Wavelength-Tunable Coherent EUV and Soft X-ray Light for Dynamic Magnetic Imaging and Metrology’, Frontiers in Optics, JTu5B. 22, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/FIO.2022.JTu5B.22
  13. A de las Heras, C Hernández-García, J Serrano, T Popmintchev, L Plaja, “Attosecond Rabi oscillations in bright high harmonic emission in the X-ray regime driven by XUV pulses’, Frontiers in Optics, FTu1C. 3, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/FIO.2022.FTu1C.3
  14. Aref Imani, Paolo A. Carpeggiani, Edgar Kaksis, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, Audrius Pugzlys, Andrius Baltuska, “Multipass Spectral Broadening of Spatially Chirped Pulses”, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2023), paper CD-2.2. https://doi.org/10.1109/CLEO/Europe-EQEC57999.2023.10232123
  15. Dimitar Popmintchev, Edgar Kaksis, Tobias Flöry, Audrius Pugžlys, Andrius Baltuška, Tenio Popmintchev,  “High Average and High Peak Power Yb:CaF2 Laser Amplifier with 20 mJ, 220 fs, 1 kHz Pulses at 1030 nm and Post-Compression of 515 nm Second Harmonic Pulses”, in preparation (2023).
  16. Lyuben S. Petrov, Kaloyan Georgiev, Dimitar Velkov, Anton Trifonov, Xiaodong  Xu, Tenio Popmintchev, Ivan Buchvarov, “Multi-millijoule Class, High Repetition Rate, Yb:CALYO Regenerative Amplifier with Sub-130 fs Pulses”, Optics Express 31 (12), 18765-18772 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.487923
  17. D. Popmintchev, S. Wang, X. Zhang, V. Stoev, T. Popmintchev, “Analytical Lah-Laguerre optical formalism for perturbative chromatic dispersion”, Optics Express 30 (22), 40779-40808, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.457139
  18. Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Will Brunner, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, “High-Efficiency Soliton Mode Compression of 515 nm Laser Pulses at kHz-MHz Repetition Rate for Bright High Harmonic Generation’, Laser Science, JTu5B. 21, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/FIO.2022.JTu5B.21
  19. Kui Li, Dimitar Popmintchev, Ruixuan Li, Guangyin Zhang, Yongjun Ma, Changjun Ke, Yunfeng Ma, Zhinan Zeng, Chenxia Yun, Chenyu Tao, Tenio Popmintchev, Zhongwei Fan, Jie Li, Xiaoshi Zhang, “Globally Optimized EUV Monochromator for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Coherent Diffractive Imaging”, in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2022), paper JW3B.52. https://doi.org/10.1364/CLEO_AT.2022.JW3B.52
  20. Kui Li, Dimitar Popmintchev, Ruixuan Li, Guangyin Zhang, Yongjun Ma, Changjun Ke, Yunfeng Ma, Zhinan Zeng, Chenxia Yun, Chenyu Tao, Tenio Popmintchev, Zhongwei Fan, Jie Li, Xiaoshi Zhang, “Globally Optimized Monochromator for Coherent Diffractive Imaging with Tunable EUV Wavelength’, High Intensity Lasers and High Field Phenomena, HTh3B. 3, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/HILAS.2022.HTh3B.3
  21. D. Popmintchev, S. Wang, X. Zhang, T. Popmintchev, “Spatial and Temporal Aberrations and Spin Angular Momentum Distortions in Coherent X-ray Imaging Instruments”, submitted (2023).
  22. Siyang Wang, Jieyu Yan, Will Brunner, Dimitar Popmintchev, Tenio Popmintchev, “High Performance Compression of 515 nm Laser Pulses at kHz-MHz Repetition Rates for Ultrabright EUV High Harmonic Generation”, High Intensity Lasers and High Field Phenomena, HTh3B. 4, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1364/HILAS.2022.HTh3B.4
  23. T. Popmintchev, Quantum design of coherent X-rays. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 256,  (2018).
  24. T. Popmintchev, “Design of coherent x-rays for 5D imaging at the space-time resolution extreme” in Proc Spie, M. Betz, A. Y. Elezzabi, Eds. (Proceedings of SPIE, 2017), vol. 10102. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253556
  25. E. Kaksis, I. Astrauskas, T. Flory, G. Andriukaitis, T. Balciunas, A. Pugzlys, E. Gabryte, L. Giniunas, A. Baltuska, T. Popmintchev, Ieee, Generation of a Single UV Pulse from a near-IR Pulse Burst (2017 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference, 2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2017.8086732
  26. C. Hernandez-Garcia, T. Popmintchev, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, L. Plaja, A. Becker, A. Jaron-Becker, Isolated broadband attosecond pulse generation with near- and mid-infrared driver pulses via time-gated phase matching. Opt. Express 25, 11855-11866 (2017). http://doi.org/10.1364/oe.25.011855
  27. X. H. Gao, G. Patwardhan, S. Schrauth, D. W. Zhu, T. Popmintchev, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, D. A. Romanov, R. J. Levis, A. L. Gaeta, Picosecond ionization dynamics in femtosecond filaments at high pressures. Physical Review A 95,  (2017). http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.013412