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We present measurements of second- and higher-order intensity correlation functions (so-called Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment) performed at the free-electron laser (FEL) FLASH in the non-linear regime of its operation. We demonstrate the high transverse coherence properties of the FEL beam with a degree of transverse coherence of about 80% and degeneracy parameter of the order 10^9 that makes it similar to laser sources. Intensity correlation measurements in spatial and frequency domain gave an estimate of the FEL average pulse duration of 50 fs. Our measurements of the higher-order correlation functions indicate that FEL radiation obeys Gaussian statistics, which is characteristic to chaotic sources., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, 40 references

While the implementation of single particle coherent diffraction imaging for non-crystalline particles is complicated by current limitations in photon flux, hit rate, and sample delivery a concept of many-particle coherent diffraction imaging offers an alternative way to overcome these difficulties. Here we present a direct, non-iterative approach for the recovery of the diffraction pattern corresponding to a single particle using coherent x-ray data collected from a two-dimensional (2D) disordered system of identical particles, that does not require a priori information about the particles and can be applied to a general case of particles without symmetry. The reconstructed single particle diffraction pattern can be directly used in common iterative phase retrieval algorithms to recover the structure of the particle., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures

In single particle coherent x-ray diffraction imaging experiments, performed at x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), samples are exposed to intense x-ray pulses to obtain single-shot diffraction patterns. The high intensity induces electronic dynamics on the femtosecond time scale in the system, which can reduce the contrast of the obtained diffraction patterns and adds an isotropic background. We quantify the degradation of the diffraction pattern from ultrafast electronic damage by performing simulations on a biological sample exposed to x-ray pulses with different parameters. We find that the contrast is substantially reduced and the background is considerably strong only if almost all electrons are removed from their parent atoms. This happens at fluences of at least one order of magnitude larger than provided at currently available XFEL sources., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures submitted to PRL

We present a time-resolved infrared (IR) pump and extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) probe diffraction experiment to investigate ultrafast structural dynamics in colloidal crystals with picosecond resolution. The experiment was performed at the FLASH facility at DESY with a fundamental wavelength of 8 nm. In our experiment, the temporal changes of Bragg peaks were analyzed and their frequency components were calculated using Fourier analysis. Periodic modulations in the colloidal crystal were localized at a frequency of about 4-5 GHz. Based on the Lamb theory, theoretical calculations of vibrations of the isotropic elastic polystyrene spheres of 400 nm in size reveal a 5.07 GHz eigenfrequency of the ground (breathing) mode., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures

The experimental characterization of the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) at a wavelength of 8.0 nm is presented. Double pinhole diffraction patterns of single femtosecond pulses focused to a size of about 10 microns by 10 microns were measured. A transverse coherence length of 6.2 microns in the horizontal and 8.7 microns in the vertical direction was determined from the most coherent pulses. Using a split and delay unit the coherence time of the pulses produced in the same operation conditions of FLASH was measured to be 1.75 fs. From our experiment we estimated the degeneracy parameter of the FLASH beam to be on the order of $10^{10}$ to $10^{11}$, which exceeds the values of this parameter at any other source in the same energy range by many orders of magnitude., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

Angular x-ray cross-correlation analysis (XCCA) is an approach to study the structure of disordered systems using the results of coherent x-ray scattering experiments. Here, we present the results of simulations that validate our theoretical findings for XCCA obtained in a previous paper [M. Altarelli et al., Phys. Rev. B 82, 104207 (2010)]. We consider as a model two-dimensional (2D) disordered systems composed of non-interacting colloidal clusters with fivefold symmetry and with orientational and positional disorder. We simulate a coherent x-ray scattering in the far field from such disordered systems and perform the angular cross-correlation analysis of calculated diffraction data. The results of our simulations show the relation between the Fourier series representation of the cross-correlation functions (CCFs) and different types of correlations in disordered systems. The dependence of structural information extracted by XCCA on the density of disordered systems and the degree of orientational disorder of clusters is investigated. The statistical nature of the fluctuations of the CCFs in the model `single-shot' experiments is demonstrated and the potential of extracting structural information from the analysis of CCFs averaged over a set of diffraction patterns is discussed. We also demonstrate the effect of partial coherence of x-rays on the results of XCCA., Comment: 45 pages, 11 figures

Measurements of the spatial and temporal coherence of single, femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the first hard x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), are presented. Single shot measurements were performed at 780 eV x-ray photon energy using apertures containing double pinholes in "diffract and destroy" mode. We determined a coherence length of 17 micrometers in the vertical direction, which is approximately the size of the focused LCLS beam in the same direction. The analysis of the diffraction patterns produced by the pinholes with the largest separation yields an estimate of the temporal coherence time of 0.6 fs. We find that the total degree of transverse coherence is 56% and that the x-ray pulses are adequately described by two transverse coherent modes in each direction. This leads us to the conclusion that 78% of the total power is contained in the dominant mode., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the rates for multielectron recombination within a dense plasma environment in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). We find that these multielectron recombination rates can be high within dense plasmas, and they should be treated in the simulations of the plasmas created by intense radiation, in particular for plasmas created by intense VUV radiation from free-electron-laser (FEL) or for modelling the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) plasmas.

Kinetic Boltzmann equations are used to model the ionization and expansion dynamics of xenon clusters irradiated with short intense VUV pulses. This unified model includes predominant interactions that contribute to the cluster dynamics induced by this radiation. The dependence of the evolution dynamics on cluster size, $N_{atoms}=20-90000$, and pulse fluence, $F=0.05-1.5$ J/cm$^2$, corresponding to intensities in the range, $10^{12}-10^{14}$ W/cm$^2$ and irradiation times, $\leq 50$ fs, is investigated. The predictions obtained with our model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. We find that during the exposure the cluster forms a shell structure consisting of a positively charged outer shell and a core of net charge equal to zero. The width of these shells depends on the cluster size. The charged outer shell is large within small clusters ($N_{atoms}=20,70$), and its Coulomb explosion drives the expansion of these clusters. Within the large clusters ($N_{atoms}=2500,90000$) the neutral core is large, and after the Coulomb explosion of the outer shell it expands hydrodynamically. Highly charged ions within the core recombine efficiently with electrons. As a result, we observe a large fraction of neutral atoms created within the core, its magnitude depending on the cluster size., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

In this paper we estimate the total cross sections for field stimulated photoemissions and photoabsorptions by quasi-free electrons within a non-equilibrium plasma evolving from the strong coupling to the weak coupling regime. Such transition may occur within laser-created plasmas, when the initially created plasma is cold but the heating of the plasma by the laser field is efficient. In particular, such a transition may occur within plasmas created by intense VUV radiation from a FEL as indicated by the results of the first experiments performed at the FLASH facility at DESY. In order to estimate the inverse bremsstrahlung cross sections, we use point-like and effective atomic potentials. For ions modelled as point-like charges, the total cross sections are strongly affected by the changing plasma environment. The maximal change of the cross sections may be of the order of 60 at the change of the plasma parameters (inverse Debye length, kappa, and the electron density, rho_e), in the range: kappa=0-3 A^{-1} and \rho_e=0.01-1 A^{-1}. These ranges correspond to the physical conditions within the plasmas created during the first cluster experiments performed at the FLASH facility at DESY. In contrast, for the effective atomic potentials the total cross sections for photoemission and photoabsorption change only by a factor of 7 at most at the same plasma parameter range. Our results show that the inverse bremsstrahlung cross section estimated with the effective atomic potentials is not much affected by the plasma environment. This observation validates the previous estimations of the enhanced heating effect. This is important as this effect may be responsible for high energy absorption within clusters irradiated with VUV radiation., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures

Non-equilibrium processes following the irradiation of atomic clusters with short pulses of vacuum ultraviolet radiation are modelled using kinetic Boltzmann equations. The dependence of the ionization dynamics on the cluster size is investigated. The predictions on: (i) the maximal and average ion charge created, (ii) ion charge state distribution, (iii) average energy absorbed per atom, (iv) spatial charge distribution, and (v) thermalization scales are obtained for spherical xenon clusters containing: 20, 70, 2500 and 90000 atoms. These clusters were exposed to single rectangular pulses of vacuum ultraviolet radiation of various pulse intensities, I ~ 10^{12}-10^{14} W/cm^2 and durations < 50 fs, at a fixed integrated radiation flux of F=0.4 J/cm^2. The results obtained are found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data, especially the dependence on the cluster size, if it is assumed that the ions from the positively charged outer layer of the cluster constitute the dominant contribution to the experimentally measured ion charge state distribution., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

The kinetic Boltzmann equation is used to model the non-equilibrium ionization phase that initiates the evolution of atomic clusters irradiated with single pulses of intense vacuum ultraviolet radiation. The duration of the pulses is < 50 fs and their intensity in the focus is < 10^{14} W/cm^2. This statistical model includes various processes contributing to the sample dynamics at this particular radiation wavelength, and is computationally efficient also for large samples. Two effects are investigated in detail: the impact of the electron heating rate and the effect of the plasma environment on the overall ionization dynamics. Results on the maximal ion charge, the average ion charge and the average energy absorbed per atom estimated with this model are compared to the experimental data obtained at the free-electron-laser facility FLASH at DESY. Our analysis confirms that the dynamics within the irradiated samples is complex, and the total ionization rate is the resultant of various processes. In particular, within the theoretical framework defined in this model the high charge states as observed in experiment cannot be obtained with the standard heating rates derived with Coulomb atomic potentials. Such high charge states can be created with the enhanced heating rates derived with the effective atomic potentials. The modification of ionization potentials by plasma environment is found to have less effect on the ionization dynamics than the electron heating rate. We believe that our results are a step towards better understanding the dynamics within the samples irradiated with intense VUV radiation., Comment: 32 pages, 17 figures