Imprinting a Focused X-Ray Laser Beam to Measure Its Full Spatial Characteristics

Free-electron lasers (FELs) have invigorated physics research, but novel sources require novel means of beam characterization as an integral part of any experiment. In this study, desorption imprints in plastic yield transverse intensity profiles of an x-ray FEL beam, from which the authors recover the complex electric-field profile and coherence properties of the focused beam. This approach will inform not only experiments in coherent diffraction imaging, x-ray microscopy, and high-energy-density physics, but also the development of tomorrow's x-ray laser sources.

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