Relativistic laser plasma from micron-sized argon clusters as a debris-free X-ray source for pulse X-ray diffraction

Fukuda, Yuji; Akahane, Yutaka; Aoyama, Makoto; Inoue, Norihiro*; Ueda, Hideki; Nakai, Yoshiki*; Tsuji, Koichi*; Yamakawa, Koichi; Hironaka, Yoichiro*; Kishimura, Hiroaki*; Morishita, Hiroto*; Kondo, Kenichi*; Nakamura, Kazutaka*

We have demonstrated diffraction from Si(111) crystal using X-rays from highly ionized Ar ions produced by laser irradiation with an intensity of 610 W/cm and a pulse duration of 30 fs acting upon micron-sized Ar clusters. The measured total photon flux and line width in the He line (3.14 keV) were 410 photons/shot/4sr and 3.7 eV (FWHM), respectively, which is sufficient to utilize as a debris-free light source for time-resolved X-ray diffraction studies.