Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Dr. William Roentgen has been an important step towards major breakthroughs in the last century. In medicine, this has had a major impact on our society by providing physicians with unique tools for diagnostics and treatments. In scientific research, X-rays are used for spectroscopic and structural characterization of atoms, molecules, biological structures and materials. Today, researchers from a broad diversity of scientific horizons, including biologists, chemists and physicists, are anticipating using X-ray laser pulses to probe dynamical processes with combined high spatial and high temporal resolutions. This quest motivates the construction of X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facilities around the world providing femtosecond X-ray laser pulses of high brilliance. The drawback of such facility, on top of its huge financial investment of billion of Euros, is its limited availability thus restraining the number of experiments that can be performed. Using ultrafast laser technology, we propose to develop a table-top high flux X-ray laser beamline at the Canadian Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) delivering femtosecond pulses with spectra extending to the kilo-electronvolt photon energy using the process of High Harmonic Generation (HHG). There are a large number of scientific applications for such ultrafast X-ray laser source, with potential for major scientific breakthroughs in Atomic, Molecular and Optical physics, biological and material sciences. In addition, we are collaborating with two Canadian companies, Axis Photonique Inc. and Applied Nanotools Inc., the first manufacturing ultrafast X-ray streak-camera and the second X-ray optical components including reflective gratings and Fresnel Zone Plates. By having access to the unique table-top high flux soft X-ray laser beamline at ALLS, our industrial partners will have an advanced metrology to improve significantly the characterization and optimization procedures of their high value instruments, an advantage that would not be available to their foreign competitors. Therefore, they will be in a unique position of manufacturing competitiveness.