Professor Steven Rose

Abstract:

We report on a direct search for elastic photon-photon scattering using x-ray and 𝛾 photons from a laser-plasma based experiment. A 𝛾 photon beam produced by a laser wak­field accelerator provided a broadband 𝛾 spectrum extending to above 𝐸𝛾 = 200 MeV. These were collided with a dense x-ray field produced by the emission from a laser heated germanium foil at 𝐸𝑥 ≈ 1.4 keV, corresponding to an invariant mass of √𝑠 = 1.22 ± 0.22 MeV. In these asymmetric collisions elastic scattering removes one x-ray and one high-energy 𝛾 photon and outputs two lower energy 𝛾 photons. No changes in the 𝛾 photon spectrum were observed as a result of the collisions allowing us to place a 95% upper bound on the cross section of 1.5 × 1015 μb. Although far from the QED prediction, this represents the lowest upper limit obtained so far for √𝑠 ≲ 1 MeV.

Abstract:

Laser-driven compact particle accelerators can provide ultrashort pulses of broadband X-rays, well suited for undertaking X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements on a femtosecond timescale. Here the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) features of the K-edge of a copper sample have been observed over a 250 eV window in a single shot using a laser wakefield accelerator, providing information on both the electronic and ionic structure simultaneously. This capability will allow the investigation of ultrafast processes, and in particular, probing high-energy-density matter and physics far-from-equilibrium where the sample refresh rate is slow and shot number is limited. For example, states that replicate the tremendous pressures and temperatures of planetary bodies or the conditions inside nuclear fusion reactions. Using high-power lasers to pump these samples also has the advantage of being inherently synchronised to the laser-driven X-ray probe. A perspective on the additional strengths of a laboratory-based ultrafast X-ray absorption source is presented.

Abstract:

We report on experiments where solid-density Mg plasmas are created by heating with the focused output of the Linac Coherent Light Source x-ray free-electron laser. We study the K-shell emission from the helium- and lithium-like ions using Bragg crystal spectroscopy. Observation of the dielectronic satellites in lithium-like ions confirms that the M-shell electrons appear bound for these high charge states. An analysis of the intensity of these satellites indicates that when modeled with an atomic-kinetics code, the ionization potential depression model employed needs to produce depressions for these ions which lie between those predicted by the well known Stewart-Pyatt and Ecker-Kroll models. These results are largely consistent with recent density functional theory calculations.

Abstract:

We describe laboratory experiments to generate x-ray photoionized plasmas of relevance to accretion-powered x-ray sources such as neutron star binaries and quasars, with significant improvements over previous work. A key quantity is referenced, namely the photoionization parameter, defined as ξ = 4πF/n_ewhere F is the x-ray flux and n_e the electron density. This is normally meaningful in an astrophysical steady-state context, but is also commonly used in the literature as a figure of merit for laboratory experiments that are, of necessity, time-dependent. We demonstrate emission-weighted values of ξ > 50 erg-cm s⁻¹ using laser-plasma x-ray sources, with higher results at the centre of the plasma which are in the regime of interest for several astrophysical scenarios. Comparisons of laboratory experiments with astrophysical codes are always limited, principally by the many orders of magnitude differences in time and spatial scales, but also other plasma parameters. However useful checks on performance can often be made for a limited range of parameters. For example, we show that our use of a keV line source, rather than the quasi-blackbody radiation fields normally employed in such experiments, has allowed the generation of the ratio of inner-shell to outer-shell photoionization expected from a blackbody source with ∼keV spectral temperature. We compare calculations from our in-house plasma modelling code with those from Cloudy and find moderately good agreement for the time evolution of both electron temperature and average ionisation. However, a comparison of code predictions for a K-β argon X-ray spectrum with experimental data reveals that our Cloudy simulation overestimates the intensities of more highly ionised argon species. This is not totally surprising as the Cloudy model was generated for a single set of plasma conditions, while the experimental data are spatially integrated.