JAEA/Kansai, Kyoto
Kyoto Univeristy, Kyoto
Interactions of x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) light with a single cluster target are numerically investigated. The irradiation of XFEL light onto material leads to the ionization of the target by photo-ionization and generation of high energy electrons. This results in the further ionization via Auger effect, collisional ionization, and field ionization. The ionization rate or time scale of each process depends on the condition of XFEL (intensity, duration, photon energy) and target size. In order to understand the ionization dynamics, we used a three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell code which includes the plasma dynamics as well as relevant atomic processes such as photo-ionization, the Auger effect, collisional ionization/relaxation, and field ionization. It is found that as the XFEL intensity increases to as high as roughly 1021 photons/pulse/mm2, the field ionization, which is the dominant ionization process over the other atomic processes, leads to rapid target ionization. The target damage due to the irradiation by XFEL light is numerically evaluated, which gives an estimation of the XFEL intensity so as to suppress the target damage within a tolerable range for imaging.
* T. Nakamura, et al., Phys. Rev. A, vol. 80, 053202 (2009)
