Femtosecond reduction of atomic scattering factors triggered by intense x-ray pulse

Abstract

X-ray diffraction of silicon irradiated with tightly focused femtosecond x-ray pulses (photon energy: 11.5 keV, pulse duration: 6 fs) was measured at various x-ray intensities up to $4.6\times 10^{19}$ W/cm${}^2$. The measurement reveals that the diffraction intensity is highly suppressed when the x-ray intensity reaches of the order of $10^{19}$ W/cm${}^2$. With a dedicated simulation, we confirm the observed reduction of the diffraction intensity is attributed to the femtosecond change in individual atomic scattering factors due to the ultrafast creation of highly ionized atoms through photoionization, Auger decay, and subsequent collisional ionization. We anticipate that this ultrafast reduction of atomic scattering factor will be a basis for new x-ray nonlinear techniques, such as pulse shortening and contrast variation x-ray scattering.

References in corpus (13)

• An assessment of the resolution limitation due to radiation-damage in x-ray diffraction microscopy
• Impact of hollow-atom formation on coherent x-ray scattering at high intensity
• Biomolecular imaging and electronic damage using X-ray free-electron lasers
• Electron Cascades Produced by Photoelectrons in Diamond
• Multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction at high x-ray intensity
• Thermal and nonthermal melting of silicon under femtosecond x-ray irradiation
• Auger-electron cascades in diamond and amorphous carbon
• Auger Electron Cascades in Water and Ice
• Radiation damage in biological material: electronic properties and electron impact ionization in urea
• Multistep transition of diamond to warm dense matter state revealed by femtosecond X-ray diffraction
• Determination of multiwavelength anomalous diffraction coefficients at high x-ray intensity
• Shortening X-ray Pulse Duration via Saturable Absorption
• Delayed onset and directionality of x-ray-induced atomic displacements observed on subatomic length scales

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Interplay of thermal and non-thermal effects in x-ray-induced ultrafast melting
• Ultrafast demagnetization in bulk nickel induced by X-ray photons tuned to Ni $M_3$ and $L_3$ absorption edges
• Bayesian electron density determination from sparse and noisy single-molecule X-ray scattering images