X-ray amplification by stimulated Brillouin scattering

Plasma-based parametric amplification using stimulated Brillouin scattering offers a route to coherent x-ray pulses orders of magnitude more intense than those of the brightest available sources. Brillouin amplification permits amplification of shorter wavelengths with lower pump intensities than Raman amplification, which Landau and collisional damping limit in the x-ray regime. Analytic predictions, numerical solutions of the three-wave-coupling equations, and particle-in-cell simulations suggest that Brillouin amplification in solid-density plasmas will allow compression of current x-ray free-electron laser pulses to subfemtosecond durations and unprecedented intensities.