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Attosecond inner-shell lasing at ångström wavelengths

Linker, Thomas M. ; Halavanau, Aliaksei ; Kroll, Thomas ; Benediktovitch, Andrei ; Zhang, Yu ; Michine, Yurina ; Chuchurka, Stasis ; Abhari, Zain ; Ronchetti, Daniele and Fransson, Thomas , et al. (2025) In Nature 642(8069). p.934-940
Abstract

Since the invention of the laser, nonlinear effects such as filamentation1, Rabi cycling2,3 and collective emission4 have been explored in the optical regime, leading to a wide range of scientific and industrial applications5, 6, 7–8. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have extended many optical techniques to X-rays for their advantages of ångström-scale spatial resolution and elemental specificity9. An example is XFEL-driven inner-shell Kα1 (2p3/2 → 1s1/2) X-ray lasing in elements ranging from neon to copper, which has been used for nonlinear spectroscopy and development of new X-ray laser sources10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15–16. Here we show... (More)

Since the invention of the laser, nonlinear effects such as filamentation1, Rabi cycling2,3 and collective emission4 have been explored in the optical regime, leading to a wide range of scientific and industrial applications5, 6, 7–8. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have extended many optical techniques to X-rays for their advantages of ångström-scale spatial resolution and elemental specificity9. An example is XFEL-driven inner-shell Kα1 (2p3/2 → 1s1/2) X-ray lasing in elements ranging from neon to copper, which has been used for nonlinear spectroscopy and development of new X-ray laser sources10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15–16. Here we show that strong lasing effects similar to those in the optical regime can occur at 1.5–2.1 Å wavelengths during high-intensity (>1019 W cm−2) XFEL-driven Kα1 lasing of copper and manganese. Depending on the temporal XFEL pump pulse substructure, the resulting X-ray pulses (about 106−108 photons) can exhibit strong spatial inhomogeneities and spectral splitting, inhomogeneities and broadening. Three-dimensional Maxwell–Bloch calculations17 show that the observed spatial inhomogeneities result from X-ray filamentation and that the broad spectral features are driven by sub-femtosecond Rabi cycling. Our simulations indicate that these X-ray pulses can have pulse lengths of less than 100 attoseconds and coherence properties that provide opportunities for quantum X-ray optics applications.

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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
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in
Nature
volume
642
issue
8069
pages
7 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105007927715
  • pmid:40500439
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-025-09105-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
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Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.
id
50284e4b-66d6-4c84-acc8-3577ccd9ceed
date added to LUP
2025-12-15 15:26:05
date last changed
2025-12-29 16:52:34
@article{50284e4b-66d6-4c84-acc8-3577ccd9ceed,
  abstract     = {{<p>Since the invention of the laser, nonlinear effects such as filamentation<sup>1</sup>, Rabi cycling<sup>2,3</sup> and collective emission<sup>4</sup> have been explored in the optical regime, leading to a wide range of scientific and industrial applications<sup>5, 6, 7–8</sup>. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have extended many optical techniques to X-rays for their advantages of ångström-scale spatial resolution and elemental specificity<sup>9</sup>. An example is XFEL-driven inner-shell Kα<sub>1</sub> (2p<sub>3/2</sub> → 1s<sub>1/2</sub>) X-ray lasing in elements ranging from neon to copper, which has been used for nonlinear spectroscopy and development of new X-ray laser sources<sup>10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15–16</sup>. Here we show that strong lasing effects similar to those in the optical regime can occur at 1.5–2.1 Å wavelengths during high-intensity (&gt;10<sup>19</sup> W cm<sup>−2</sup>) XFEL-driven Kα<sub>1</sub> lasing of copper and manganese. Depending on the temporal XFEL pump pulse substructure, the resulting X-ray pulses (about 10<sup>6</sup>−10<sup>8</sup> photons) can exhibit strong spatial inhomogeneities and spectral splitting, inhomogeneities and broadening. Three-dimensional Maxwell–Bloch calculations<sup>17</sup> show that the observed spatial inhomogeneities result from X-ray filamentation and that the broad spectral features are driven by sub-femtosecond Rabi cycling. Our simulations indicate that these X-ray pulses can have pulse lengths of less than 100 attoseconds and coherence properties that provide opportunities for quantum X-ray optics applications.</p>}},
  author       = {{Linker, Thomas M. and Halavanau, Aliaksei and Kroll, Thomas and Benediktovitch, Andrei and Zhang, Yu and Michine, Yurina and Chuchurka, Stasis and Abhari, Zain and Ronchetti, Daniele and Fransson, Thomas and Weninger, Clemens and Fuller, Franklin D. and Aquila, Andy and Alonso-Mori, Roberto and Boutet, Sébastien and Guetg, Marc W. and Marinelli, Agostino and Lutman, Alberto A. and Yabashi, Makina and Inoue, Ichiro and Osaka, Taito and Yamada, Jumpei and Inubushi, Yuichi and Yamaguchi, Gota and Hara, Toru and Babu, Ganguli and Salpekar, Devashish and Sayed, Farheen N. and Ajayan, Pulickel M. and Kern, Jan and Yano, Junko and Yachandra, Vittal K. and Kling, Matthias F. and Pellegrini, Claudio and Yoneda, Hitoki and Rohringer, Nina and Bergmann, Uwe}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{8069}},
  pages        = {{934--940}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Attosecond inner-shell lasing at ångström wavelengths}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09105-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-025-09105-9}},
  volume       = {{642}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}