Three-dimensional Maxwell-Bloch calculation of the temporal profile of a seeded soft x-ray laser pulse

F. Tissandier (1) , S Sebban (1) , J Gautier (1) , Ph Zeitoun (1) , E Oliva (1) , Antoine Rousse (1) , G Maynard (2)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 LPGP - Laboratoire de physique des gaz et des plasmas

We present three-dimensional modeling of amplification of a high-order harmonic seed by a soft x-ray laser plasma. The time-dependent evolution of the x-ray signal is determined from a fully dynamic Maxwell-Bloch calculation. At high seed intensities , a simplified one-dimensional calculation leads to strong Rabi-like temporal oscillations of the output signal. However, such oscillations have not been observed experimentally. Our three-dimensional calculations demonstrate that this is due to spatial non-uniformities in the plasma gain that cause the Rabi oscillations to dampen dramatically. Large amplitude Rabi-like oscillations are expected to appear only in long and uniform plasma. Such targets require optimized guiding techniques.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

F. Tissandier, S Sebban, J Gautier, Ph Zeitoun, E Oliva, et al.. Three-dimensional Maxwell-Bloch calculation of the temporal profile of a seeded soft x-ray laser pulse. Applied Physics Letters, 2012, 101, pp.251112. ⟨10.1063/1.4773208⟩. ⟨hal-01165577⟩