Open AccessA bright point source of ultrashort hard x-ray pulses using biological cells
Author(s) -
M. Krishnamurthy,
Sudipta Mondal,
Amit D. Lad,
Kartik Bane,
Saima Ahmed,
V. Narayanan,
R. Rajeev,
Gourab Chatterjee,
Prashant Kumar Singh,
G. Ravindra Kumar,
M. Kundu,
Krishanu Ray
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.005754
Subject(s) - optics , femtosecond , extreme ultraviolet lithography , laser , materials science , plasma , substrate (aquarium) , extreme ultraviolet , coating , physics , nanotechnology , oceanography , quantum mechanics , geology
We demonstrate that the interaction of intense femtosecond light on a plain solid substrate can be substantially altered by a few micron layer coating of bacterial cells, live or dead. Using E. Coli cells, we show that at an intensity of 10(16)W cm(-2), the bremsstraahlung hard x-ray emission (up to 300 keV), is increased by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to a plain glass slab. Particle-in-cell simulations carried out by modeling the bacterial cells as ellipsoidal particles show that the hot electron generation is indeed enhanced by the presence of microstructures. This new methodology should pave way for using microbiological systems of varied shapes to control intense laser produced plasmas for EUV/x-ray generation.