XUV digital in-line holography using high-order harmonics

A step towards a successful implementation of timeresolved digital in-line holography with extreme ultraviolet radiation is presented. Ultrashort XUV pulses are produced as high-order harmonics of a femtosecond laser and a Schwarzschild objective is used to focus harmonic radiation at 38 nm and to produce a strongly divergent reference beam for holographic recording. Experimental holograms of thin wires are recorded and the objects reconstructed. Descriptions of the simulation and reconstruction theory and algorithms are also given. Spatial resolution of few hundreds of nm is potentially achievable, and micrometer resolution range is demonstrated.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

La 2Zr 2O 7 single buffer layer for YBCO RABiTs coated conductors

Abstract. Chemical deposition methods like MOD and MOCVD are promising approaches for coated conductors (CCs) due to their reduced cost and easy scaling. High quality La2Zr2O7 (LZO) buffer layers were prepared by MOD on Ni-5%at.W (NiW) RABiTS and subsequent YBCO layers (450 to 800 nm thick) were deposited by pulsed injection MOCVD, leading to a simple low cost architecture NiWRABiTS/LZOMOD/YBCOMOCVD. In this novel combination of MOD and MOCVD approach, a single LZOMOD buffer layer is sufficient to ensure structural compatibility between YBCO and NiW, and protect the substrate from oxidation during YBCO MOCVD. YBCO films were epitaxially grown on LZO and exhibited critical current densities Jc close to 1 MA/cm2 at 77 K with a critical temperature Tc = 91 K and ∆Tc < 1 K.hal-00395257, version 1- 15 Jun 2009 1

New YBCO superconducting wires obtained from narrow textured tubes

International audienc

Progress in optic-field-ionization soft X-ray lasers at LOA

We give on overview of recent advances in collisionally pumped optical field-ionization soft X-ray lasers developed at LOA. Saturated amplification has been achieved on the 5d-5p transition in Xe8+ at 41.8 nm, and on the 4d-4p transition in Kr8+ at 32.8 nm. We demonstrate a significant increase of the energy output from the Xe8+ laser driven within two types of wave-guide. Finally, we present results of a pioneering work aimed to set up and characterize the first true soft X-ray laser chain

Optimization of the wave front of high order harmonics

We present a full optimization of the high harmonics wave front owing to the use of a soft X-ray Hartmann sensor. The sensor was calibrated using a high harmonic source with an accuracy of λ/50 root-mean-square (rms) with λ around 30 nm. We observed a high harmonic wave front of λ/7 rms, which is two times the diffraction-limit, astigmatism being the dominant aberration for every condition of generation. By clipping slightly the unfocused high harmonic beam, it is possible to produce a diffraction-limited beam containing approximately 90% of the incident energy

Lasers X de deuxième génération

Au LOA, nous avons réalisé la première chaîne d'amplification laser fonctionnant dans la gamme spectrale XUV. La chaîne est constituée d'une source, d'un relais d'image et d'un amplificateur. La source de génération d'harmoniques d'ordre élevé avait de bonnes qualités optiques, tandis que l'amplificateur produit intrinsèquement des impulsions de forte énergie. Afin de garder les qualités optiques de la source durant l'amplification, le laser X était pompé par ionisation par effet de champs dans un gaz neutre. La métrologie de ce laser X injecté a permis de mesurer une énergie de sortie de 0.7 $\mu$J et un haut degré de cohérence et de polarisation. La durée de l'impulsion a été estimée à 500 fs. On peut espérer atteindre un éclairement de 1.5$\times$10$^{16}$ Wcm$^{-2}$ en focalisant le faisceau