RIKEN Review No.

31 (November, 2000): Focused on Production of Ultra Slow Highly-Charged Ions and Its Application

X-ray emission of hollow ions in dense plasmas created with high intensity lasers
Frank B. Rosmej,1, Dieter H. H. Hoffmann, 1 Wolfram Su,1 Matthias Ge`ssel,1 Olga N. Rosmej,1 Anatoly Ya. Faenov,2 Tanja A. Pikuz,2 Thierry Auguste,3 Pascal DOliveira, 3 Sebastien Hulin,3 Pascale Monot,3 Jrgen E. Hansen,4 and Gilles Verbookhaven 4 1 Technische Universitat/GSI Darmstadt, Institut fur Kernphysik, Germany 2 Multicharged Ions Spectra Data Center of VNIIFTRI, Russia 3 ` Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, France 4 Van der Waals-Zeeman Laboratory, The Netherlands

We have investigated the formation of hollow ions in dense plasmas by means of high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, atomic data calculations and spectra simulations. Dense plasma eects result in highly populated excited states which open up excitation channels not accessible in low density plasma sources. In particular fs-laser radiation interacting with matter turns out to be an important tool for modern atomic physics investigations.

Introduction Traditional methods for the creation of hollow atoms and ions are interaction experiments with heavy ion beams and matter (e.g. foils, gases). In these studies important achievements have been made over the past decades concerning line identications, comparison of experimental and theoretical wavelengths/transition probabilities and the relevant excitation mechanisms. 15) For accurate measurements of wavelengths also low density plasma sources such as tokamaks and electron beam ion traps (EBIT) have been employed. The present work reports about the observation of hollow ion creation correlated with highly populated excited states in dense laser produced plasmas (LPP). We show that just the high density achieved in LPP opens up excitation channels usually closed in low density sources like e.g. EBIT. In this context it is important to note that the emission spectra dier not only in intensity but in particular in its qualitative spectral shape. The recent availability of fs-lasers provide outstanding possibilities: high density and the access to ultra fast atomic process (e.g. creation of highly charged ions in a cold environment through eld ionization, population inversion on the autoionizing time scales). At GSI-Darmstadt we have founded recently a new kilo joule laser project (called PHELIX-laser, the big brother of the currently operating 100 J nhelix-laser). This laser system will have a ns and fs option to provide 1) access to the petawatt regime, 2) access to large scale high density plasmas for heavy ion beam interaction experiments.

with spherically bent mica crystals,6) Kodak DEF X-ray lm (grain size about 2 m) and high resolution drum scanner with 10.000 dpi (2.5 m per pixel). This experimental arrangement provides outstanding possibilities for the spectroscopic investigations: simultaneous high spectral resolution (/ 2, 0005,000) and spatial resolution (x 10 m) in a large spectral window (note that toroidal bent crystals provide good space resolution only for one wavelength). Figure 1 shows also numerous transitions in Li-like hollow ions on the

Dense plasma effects in the line formation of hollow ions Figure 1 shows the experimental high resolution soft X-ray spectrum of the He line (1s3p 1 P1 1s2 1 S0 ) obtained at the nhelix-laser at GSI in the department of Plasma Physics. The radiation emission from the Mg-target ions is recorded
e-mail: rosmej@hrzpub.tu-darmstadt.de

Fig. 1. Experimental soft X-ray Mg spectrum from the nhelix-laser at GSI showing the He -line, Li-like 1s2l3l-satellites and well resolved transitions in hollow ions 1s1 2l0 3l1 3l1 1s2 2l0 3l1 + hhollow .

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transient three-body recombination correlated with excited sates have been explored as a strong mechanism for hollow ion formation in fs-laser produced plasmas:9) 1s2l + e + e 1s2lnl + e 1s2 2l, 1s2 nl + h + e. Moreover, fs-laser produced plasmas provide the outstanding possibility of creating highly charged ions in a relatively cold environment through eld ionization (the ionization degree does not correspond to the temperature any more) on a time scale comparable with the autoionizing rate of the hollow ion conguration. This is important for atomic physics investigations and X-ray laser research (e.g. K -laser). Figure 3 shows our recent experiments for the creation of hollow ions in eld ionizing plasmas: a 70 fs laser pulse with intensity of 1019 W/cm2 was focused into a nitrogen gas cell. Figure 3 shows two dierent spectra obtained in dierent laser shots with dierent gas pressures. Two remarkable features are seen: rst, the emission structures near the usual positions of the indicated H-like resonance lines np 1s are very broad and, second, the onset of numerous ne structures which are correlated for dierent shots. We propose that eld ionized nitrogen nuclei penetrate into the residual gas and undergo double electron charge exchange:10) nuc + N nln l + N 2+ nuc + N + nln l + N 3+ nuc + N 2+ nln l + N 4+

Fig. 2. Population of hollow ions in dense plasmas from dielectronic capture to excited states 1s2l.

long wavelength side of He . Of particular interest are the hollow ion transitions K1 L0 M2 - K2 L0 M1 (indicated as 1s1 2l0 3l1 3l1 in Fig. 1) in dense optically thick LPP. Figure 2 depicts the simulations with various excitation channels: the lower spectrum of Fig. 2 contains only the He -lines (Y3 is the optically thin intercombination line). The spectrum in the middle contains only the dielectronic capture (DC) into the He-like ground state: 1s2 + e 1s3lnl. The hollow ion congurations K1 L0 M2 however do not autoionize only to the ground state, but to excited states too: 1s3l3l 1s2l + e. Therefore, by the principle of detailed balance, DC to excited states must exist. The upper spectrum of Fig. 2 therefore takes also into account the DC capture from the excited states 1s2l. In high density LPP the upper states 1s2l are highly populated. It can be clearly seen from the upper spectrum in Fig. 2 that the excited states contribution is huge resulting in intensities as observed in experiments (Fig. 1).7) The spectrum indicated as capture from 1s2 in Fig. 2 is typical for low density plasmas like tokamaks. 8) This shows that only in high density plasmas these transitions can be investigated making lasers indispensable tools for atomic physics investigations.

Fig. 3. Nitrogen soft X-ray emission from the interaction of a 70 fs laser pulse with gasesous targets. Several correlations of transitions in hollow ions are indicated with vertical bars.

Hollow ion transitions in dense fs-laser produced plasmas Quite many phenomena are not only related to high density plasmas, but to ultra fast processes too. Just recently

We have carried out atomic data calculations for the nitrogen nlnl conguration ranging from n, n = 19 and l, l = 08. Figure 4 shows the spectra simulation employing these transitions. Quite good agreement is seen: the broad emission structure is displayed as well as the onset of the ne structure. The dierent location in energy of the various nlnl-congurations permitted also the development of a temperature diagnostic with hollow ions in the long lasting

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Table 1. Comparison of theoretical wavelengths of the transitions 2l2l2l-1s2l2l in hollow ions with experimental ones. Transition 1s2s2p 2 P-2s2p2 2 S 1s2p3p 2 P-2s2p3d 2 D 1s2s2 2 S - 2s2 2p 2 P 1s2p3p 4 P-2s2p3d 4 D 1s2p2 2 P - 2p3 2 P 1s2s2p 2 P-2s2p2 2 P 1s2s2p 4 P-2s2p2 4 P 1s2s2p 2 P-2s2p2 2 D 1s2p2 4 P - 2p3 4 S 1s2p2 2 D - 2p3 2 D 1s2p2 2 P - 2p3 2 D 1s2p2 2 S - 2p3 2 P 1s2s2p 2 P - 2s2p2 2 D 1s2p3d 2 D-2s2 3d 2 D theory / A 3.7797 3.7811 3.7847 3.7871 3.7872 3.7890 3.7947 3.7970 3.7973 3.7999 3.8060 3.8061 3.8093 3.8157 A/1013 s 10.7 4.65 5.73 1.21 8.13 10.9 12.9 10.6 13.0 9.09 9.03 4.18 1.15 1.05 exp / A ? 3.782 3.784 3.787 3.787 3.789 3.793 3.796 3.796 3.799 3.806 3.806 3.811 3.818

Fig. 4. Comparison of the experimental spectrum with the simulation of 1snl, 1snl + h hollow in hollow ions in fs-laser transitions nlnl produced plasmas.

K-electrons: K0 Lm K1 Lm1 + hhollow . Table 1 shows the comparison of the theoretical data (calculated with the B-spline method12) ) and the experimental values. We propose that charge exchange processes may be also responsible for the strong emission in hollow ions (e.g. temperature ionized nuclei penetrate into colder plasma sheaths).

recombination regime.10) This regime is quite dicult to access in hydro and kinetic simulations due to the long time scale of the recombination processes. Transitions in hollow ions allow therefore the development of important new diagnostics.

Conclusion We have shown that various excitation channels of hollow ion congurations are correlated with highly populated excited states. Therefore, dense plasmas are important sources for these atomic physics investigations too and fs-lasers are indispensable tools for modern research. The authors are grateful to Prof. Yasunori Yamazaki for his interest in the present work. One of us (FBR) also acknowledges his nancial support and invitation to Riken.

Hollow ion transitions in dense pinch plasmas Figure 5 shows the experimental soft X-ray spectrum from the driver gas of a Mega-Ampere-Z-Pinch. 11) Numerous transitions are visible between the H-like Ly line and the He-like resonance line He (note that the intensity scale is linear). Atomic data calculation show, that these transitions can be aligned to transitions in hollow ions with two vacant

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Fig. 5. Experimental argon spectra from a Mega-Ampere Z-pinch showing transitions in hollow ions 2sn 2pm 1s2sn 2pm1 + h hollow .

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