Probing ultrafast heating and ionization dynamics in solid density plasmas with time-resolved resonant X-ray absorption and emission
Heating and ionization are among the most fundamental processes in relativistic laser-solid interactions; however, their spatiotemporal evolution remains challenging to capture experimentally. Here we present detailed diagnosis of high-intensity laser interactions with wire targets, leveraging the extreme spectral brightness of an X-ray free-electron laser in sub-picosecond time-resolved resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy and absorption imaging. Experimental results are compared with comprehensive simulations using atomic collisional-radiative models, particle-in-cell, and magnetohydrodynamics codes to elucidate the underlying physics. These multi-scale simulations reveal extreme sensitivity of basic plasma parameters with widely used models, such as temperature and ionization depth, which are able to be constrained by incorporating a detailed accounting of laser spatial profiles, pre-plasma conditions, and collisional processes. These results provide new insights into heating and ionization dynamics in the high-energy-density regime relevant to inertial fusion energy research, both as an experimental platform for accessing theoretically challenging conditions and as a benchmark for improving models of high-power laser-plasma interactions.
Authors
- Jan‐Patrick Schwinkendorf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8703-7641)
- Thea Engler
- T. Kluge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4861-5584)
- Jan Vorberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5926-9192)
- Xiayun Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3882-510X)
- T. Toncian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7986-3631)
- Alejandro Laso García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7671-0901)
- Hauke Höppner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1929-5097)
- M. Nakatsutsumi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0868-4745)
- Josefine Metzkes-Ng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9556-0662)
- Lisa Randolph (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9587-404X)
- M. Kozlová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4757-9972)
- Oliver Humphries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6748-0422)
- Yangzhe Cui
- Özgul Öztürk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6283-4161)
- Irene Prencipe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0931-1350)
- E. Brambrink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2404-9412)
- Christian Gutt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0051-8542)
- M. Toncian
- Martin Rehwald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6200-6406)
- Hans-Peter Schlenvoigt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4400-1315)
- Mohamed Hassan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4535-5089)
- M. Masruri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2521-6241)
- Sebastian Göde
- Alexander Pelka
- C. Baehtz
- U. Zastrau
- K. Zeil
- U. Schramm
- Mikhail Mishchenko
- Thomas R. Preston
- Long Yang
- Johannes Hagemann
- Masato Ota
- Michal Šmíd
- Thomas E. Cowan
- Lingen Huang
Institutions
- University of Siegen (DE)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines (CZ)
- National Institute for Fusion Science (JP)
- TU Bergakademie Freiberg (DE)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-04-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71429-5
- Primary Topic
- Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron