A bright point source of ultrashort hard x-ray pulses using biological cells

Abstract

We demonstrate that the interaction of intense femtosecond light on a plain solid substrate can be substantially altered by a few micron layer coating of bacterial cells, live or dead. Using E. coli cells, we show that at an intensity of 10¹⁶ w cm⁻², the bremsstraahlung hard X-ray emission (up to 300 kev), is increased by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to a plain glass slab. Particle-in-cell simulations carried out by modeling the bacterial cells as ellipsoidal particles show that the hot electron generation is indeed enhanced by the presence of microstructures. This new methodology should pave way for using microbiological systems of varied shapes to control intense laser produced plasmas for euv/X-ray generation.