Simulations of Collisional Effects in an Inner-Shell Solid-Density Mg X-Ray Laser

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to explore how collisional effects influence inner-shell X-ray laser performance in solid-density magnesium, revealing significant broadening and population effects that limit lasing duration.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation of collisional effects in solid-density Mg X-ray lasers, incorporating atomic kinetics and FEL interactions.

Findings

Collisional effects significantly broaden lines and affect populations.

Lasing is limited to the initial cold Kα transition.

Gain duration in solid Mg is sub-femtosecond.

Abstract

Inner-shell K$\alpha$ x-ray lasers have been created by pumping gaseous, solid, and liquid targets with the intense x-ray output of free-electron-lasers (FELs). For gaseous targets lasing relies on the creation of K-shell core-holes on a time-scale short compared with filling via Auger decay. In the case of solid and liquid density systems, collisional effects will also be important, affecting not only populations, but also line-widths, both of which impact the degree of overall gain, and its duration. However, to date such collisional effects have not been extensively studied. We present here initial simulations using the CCFLY code of inner-shell lasing in solid density Mg, where we self-consistently treat the effects of the incoming FEL radiation and the atomic kinetics of the Mg system, including radiative, Auger, and collisional effects. We find that the combination of collisional population of the lower states of the lasing transitions and broadening of the lines precludes lasing on all but the K$\alpha$ of the initially cold system. Even assuming instantaneous turning on of the FEL pump, we find the duration of the gain in the solid system to be sub-femtosecond.