Canova F., Poletto L. (Eds.) Optical Technologies for Extreme-Ultraviolet and Soft X-ray Coherent Sources

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2015. — 205 p. — (Springer Series in Optical Sciences. Vol.197) — ISBN: 9783662474426The book will review the most recent achievements in optical technologies applied to photon handling and conditioning of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray coherent sources.
The developments in laser technology over the past 30 years led to the generation of coherent optical pulses as short as a few femtoseconds, providing a unique tool for high-resolution time-domain spectroscopy that revolutionized many areas of science from solid-state physics to biology. While femtosecond optical lasers offered unique insights into ultrafast dynamics, they are limited by the fact that the structural arrangement and motion of nuclei are not directly accessible from measured optical properties. This scientific gap has been filled by the availability of ultrafast coherent sources in the extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray spectral region, such as high-order laser harmonics and free-electron lasers.
High-order laser harmonics, that are produced by the interaction between a very intense ultrashort pulsed laser and a gas/solid target, exhibit high brightness, high degree of coherence, and high peak intensity. The combination of the use of advanced phase matching mechanisms and interaction geometries as well as intense ultrafast laser has made possible to obtain radiation down to the water window region (2.3–4.4 nm). Moreover, the radiation generated with the scheme of the high-order harmonics using few-optical-cycles laser pulses is presently the most advanced tool for the investigation of matter with attosecond resolution.The Soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser FLASH at DESY
The Soft X-ray Free-Electron Laser FERMI@Elettra
Overview on Attosecond Sources
Overview on HHG High-Flux Sources
Seeding Free Electron Lasers with High Order Harmonics Generated in Gas
Temporal Characterization of Ultrashort Extreme-Ultraviolet and Soft X-ray Pulses
Optical Metrology—On the Inspection of Ultra-Precise FEL-Optics
Multilayer Mirrors for Coherent Extreme-Ultraviolet and Soft X-ray Sources
Gratings for Ultrashort Coherent Pulses in the Extreme Ultraviolet