Femtosecond laser produced periodic plasma in a colloidal crystal probed by XFEL radiation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that femtosecond laser-induced periodic plasma in colloidal crystals can be effectively probed using XFEL radiation, revealing persistent structural features and enabling advanced analysis of matter under extreme conditions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental and theoretical investigation of plasma periodicity in colloidal crystals under intense laser irradiation with XFEL probing.

Findings

Periodic plasma structure survives shock wave propagation.

Bragg diffraction can be used to analyze excited colloidal crystals.

Potential to study phase transitions under extreme irradiation.

Abstract

With the rapid development of short-pulse intense laser sources, studies of matter under extreme irradiation conditions enter further unexplored regimes. In addition, an application of X-ray Free- Electron Lasers (XFELs), delivering intense femtosecond X-ray pulses allows to investigate sample evolution in IR pump - X-ray probe experiments with an unprecedented time resolution. Here we present the detailed study of periodic plasma created from the colloidal crystal. Both experimental data and theory modeling show that the periodicity in the sample survives to a large extent the extreme excitation and shock wave propagation inside the colloidal crystal. This feature enables probing the excited crystal, using the powerful Bragg peak analysis, in contrast to the conventional studies of dense plasma created from bulk samples for which probing with Bragg diffraction technique is not possible. X-ray diffraction measurements of excited colloidal crystals may then lead towards a better understanding of matter phase transitions under extreme irradiation conditions.