Open AccessTime–space transformation of femtosecond free‐electron laser pulses by periodical multilayers
Author(s) -
Ksenzov Dmitriy,
Grigorian Souren,
Pietsch Ullrich
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of synchrotron radiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.172
H-Index - 99
ISSN - 1600-5775
DOI - 10.1107/s090904950704753x
Subject(s) - femtosecond , pulse (music) , optics , femtosecond pulse shaping , scattering , laser , absorption (acoustics) , multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan , wavelength , ultrashort pulse , electron , materials science , detector , physics , atomic physics , quantum mechanics
A scattering scheme to probe the time evolution of femtosecond pulses of a soft X‐ray free‐electron laser (FEL) in a multilayer structure is presented. The response of periodic multilayers (MLs) with low and high absorption and various numbers of bi‐layers to a pulse train of Gaussian‐shaped sub‐pulses is calculated. During the passage of the incident pulse the interaction length increases and the scattering profile changes as a function of the spatial position of the pulse within the sample. Owing to stretching of the reflected pulse compared with the incident pulse, the time‐dependent scattering evolution in the ML can be visualized along a spatial coordinate of a position‐sensitive detector. Using a scattering geometry where the mean energy of the incident pulse train is slightly detuned from the energy of maximum reflectivity at the first‐order peak, the response of the ML shows an oscillator behaviour along this spatial coordinate at the detector. For a FEL wavelength of 6.4 nm this effect is promising for MLs with low absorption, such as La/C for example. On the other hand, the oscillations will not be present for MLs with high absorption. Therefore a low‐absorbing ML is a sensitive tool for studying the possible change of sample absorption caused by femtosecond‐pulse interaction with matter.