Observation of the laser-induced surface dynamics by the single-shot X-ray laser interferometer

Hasegawa, Noboru; Ochi, Yoshihiro; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Nishikino, Masaharu; Ishino, Masahiko; Imazono, Takashi; Kaihori, Takeshi; Sasaki, Akira; Terakawa, Kota*; Minami, Yasuo*; Tomita, Takuro*; Yamamoto, Minoru*; Umeda, Yoshifumi*; Yamagiwa, Mitsuru; Suemoto, Toru

We have developed a soft X-ray laser (SXRL) interferometer capable of the single-shot imaging of nano-scaled structure dynamics. The interferometer consisted of the reflection optics including double Lloyd's mirrors and focusing optics, and the interference fringes are produced on the detector surface. By using this interferometer, the initial stage (50 ps) of the ablation process of the Pt surface pumped by a 70 fs Ti:Sapphire laser pulse was observed. The expansion speed of the surface estimated from the result (34 nm/50 ps) indicated that the nano-bubble structures were formed in the initial stage of the ablation. In order to observe the detailed dynamics, the temporal synchronization between the pump and probe pulses was improved to be 3 ps by adopting a portion of the SXRL and pump beams as the time fiducials, to which the pump and probe timing was adjusted by using the X-ray streak camera.