Table-top high flux femtosecond soft X-ray beamline at the advanced laser light source: New scientific and industrial applications

1895年，威廉·伦琴博士发现了x射线，这是上个世纪取得重大突破的重要一步。在医学上，这为医生提供了独特的诊断和治疗工具，对我们的社会产生了重大影响。在科学研究中，x射线用于原子、分子、生物结构和材料的光谱和结构表征。今天，来自不同科学领域的研究人员，包括生物学家、化学家和物理学家，都期望使用x射线激光脉冲来探测具有高空间和高时间分辨率的动态过程。这一探索促使世界各地建造x射线自由电子激光器（XFEL）设施，提供高亮度的飞秒x射线激光脉冲。除了数十亿欧元的巨额财政投资外，这种设施的缺点是其可用性有限，从而限制了可以进行的实验数量。利用超快激光技术，我们建议在加拿大先进激光光源（ALLS）上开发一个桌面高通量x射线激光束线，利用高谐波产生（HHG）过程提供光谱延伸到千电子伏特光子能量的飞秒脉冲。这种超快x射线激光源有大量的科学应用，在原子、分子和光学物理、生物和材料科学方面具有重大的科学突破潜力。此外，我们正在与两家加拿大公司Axis Photonique Inc.和Applied Nanotools Inc.合作，第一个制造超快x射线条纹相机和第二个x射线光学元件，包括反射光栅和菲涅耳带片。通过访问ALLS独特的桌面高通量软x射线激光束线，我们的工业合作伙伴将拥有先进的计量技术，以显着改善其高价值仪器的表征和优化程序，这是他们的外国竞争对手无法获得的优势。因此，他们将处于独特的制造业竞争力地位。

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.