ABSTRACTX-ray diffraction, employing a table-top, laser-driven x-ray source, has been used to investigate laser-material interactions with simultaneous picosecond and subatomic range distance resolution. The x-ray source, consisting of a table-top terawatt laser system and a moving Cu wire target apparatus, generates ˜ 5 × 1010 photons (4π steradians s)−1 of Cu Kα radiation. The lattice dynamics of the (111) planes of GaAs single crystals has been studied after the crystal is exposed to intense femtosecond laser pulses. The diffraction results have yielded information about the timescale of the lattice dynamics in the picosecond range and an upper limit for the width of the xray pulses. Initial strain, defined as the percentage of lattice distortion resulted from the laser illumination, is as high as 0.25% and is followed by an exponential decay with a time constant of ˜ 150 ps. Increases in the diffraction intensity after the laser irradiation have also been observed, likely due to a transition from dynamic to kinematic diffraction associated with degradation of the crystal.
Propagation of femtosecond terawatt laser pulses in N2 gas including higher-order Kerr effects