Ultrabright Sources of Attosecond Pulses

Generation of high intensity X-rays is a vital aspect of many scientific disciplines, from Material Science to Biology. Synchrotron Light Sources are the most readily available sources of X-Rays. The radiation, however, is mostly incoherent. Free Electron Lasers (FELS) can produce coherent X-rays that last just tens of femtoseconds, but the many kilometres of space and cost needed for these facilities puts a constraint on their accessibility.

This project looks at the creation of X-rays through high harmonic generation from plasma surfaces which will bring ultrabright attosecond sources to university level laboratories with affordable tabletop devices in the future. Attosecond science is an exciting and revolutionary area of study. The creation of high quality, ultrabright, Attosecond X-rays will have many interesting applications such as studying electron dynamics in atoms and molecules. It will permit the ability to probe and control the natural world at timescales which has never been possible before.

Biography

I started my PhD journey in October 2020 at the Centre for Plasma Physics.

I graduated with a 1^st in Physics from Queen's University Belfast. During my undergraduate I spent a year at Diamond Light Source designing a Booster Synchrotron for the Diamond-II upgrade conceptual design report.

Research interests

• Laser-Plasma Physics
• Attosecond Physics
• High Harmonic Generation