Enhanced Beat Wave Saturation Amplitude in an Ionizing Plasma

The excitation of a plasma wave by two laser beams, whose frequency difference is near the plasma frequency, is studied in a plasma with a density that is slowly increasing with time due to ongoing ionization as appropriate for experiments done in laser breakdown plasmas. Numerical integration of the relativistic equation for the evolution of the wave amplitude reveals that for a rate of increase of the plasma density of approximately 1017 cm-3/ns at a laser intensity I = 1014 W/cm2, the wave amplitude can rise considerably above the relativistic saturation limit of Rosenbluth and Liu which was obtained for a plasma of constant density. This increase in plasma density compensates the reduction in plasma frequency caused by the relativistic electron mass increase when the wave amplitude is large. The frequency and phase excursions of the plasma wave are reduced for an optimum time increasing density. We find that moderate damping can stabilize both the amplitude and the phase of the plasma wave with respect to the pump.     

High-Intensity CO2 Laser Breakdown of Low-Pressure Gas

We have performed CO2 interferometry measurements to characterize the high-intensity (1 ? 1.0 × 1014 W/cm2) CO2 laser breakdown in low-pressure (0.4 torr < P < 2.0 torr) dry air and demonstrate that this plasma can be used for beat wave accelerator studies. The plasma has a diameter and axial length of 0.2 mm and 2.0 mm, respectively, slightly greater than the focal diameter and depth of focus of the focusing optics. Peak electron density corresponds to partial ionization ( = 3, ne = 1.0 × 1017 cm-3) at low pressure (P = 0.4-0.5 torr) increasing to full ionization (Z = 7.2) at P > 1.0 torr. A theoretical model of laser breakdown provides insight into the time evolution of the electron density.     

Compression of laser radiation in plasmas using electromagnetic cascading

Compressing high-power laser beams in plasmas via generation of a coherent cascade of electromagnetic sidebands is described. The technique requires two copropagating beams detuned by a near-resonant frequency Omega approximately < omega(p). The ponderomotive force of the laser beat wave drives an electron plasma wave which modifies the refractive index of plasma so as to produce a periodic phase modulation of the laser field with the beat period tau(b) = 2pi/Omega. A train of chirped laser beat notes (each of duration tau(b)) is thus created. The group velocity dispersion of radiation in plasma can then compress each beat note to a few-laser-cycle duration. As a result, a train of sharp electromagnetic spikes separated in time by tau(b) is formed. Depending on the plasma and laser parameters, chirping and compression can be implemented either concurrently in the same plasma or sequentially in different plasmas.     

Large-amplitude plasma wave generation with a high-intensity short-pulse beat wave

A short-pulse laser beat wave scheme for advanced particle accelerator applications is examined. A short, intense (3-ps, >10(18)-W cm(-2)) two-frequency laser pulse is produced by use of a modified chirped-pulse amplification scheme and is shown to produce relativistic plasma waves during interactions with low-density plasmas. The generation of plasma waves was observed by measurement of forward Raman scattering. Resonance was found to occur at an electron density many times that expected, owing to ponderomotive displacement of plasma within the focal region.     

Vacuum heating evaluation for plasmas of exponentially decreasing density profile

Ultra-short pulse lasers have opened a regime of laser-plasma interaction where plasmas have scale lengths shorter than the laser wavelength and allow the possibility of generating near-solid density plasmas. The interaction of high-intensity laser beams with sharply bounded high-density and small scale length plasmas is considered. Absorption of the laser energy associated with the mechanism of dragging electrons out of the plasma into the vacuum and sending them back into the plasma with the electric field component along the density gradient, so called vacuum heating, is studied. An exponentially decreasing electron density profile is assumed. The vector potential of the electromagnetic field propagating through the plasma is calculated and the behaviour of the electric and magnetic components of the electromagnetic field is studied. The fraction of laser power absorbed in this process is calculated and plotted versus the laser beam incidence angle, illumination energy, and the plasma scale length.     

Electron Acceleration by Beating of Two Intense Cross-Focused Hollow Gaussian Laser Beams in Plasma

This paper presents propagation of two cross-focused intense hollow Gaussian laser beams(HGBs) in collisionless plasma and its effect on the generation of electron plasma wave(EPW) and electron acceleration process,when relativistic and ponderomotive nonlinearities are simultaneously operative. Nonlinear differential equations have been set up for beamwidth of laser beams, power of generated EPW, and energy gain by electrons using WKB and paraxial approximations. Numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the effect of typical laser-plasma parameters on the focusing of laser beams in plasmas and further its effect on power of excited EPW and acceleration of electrons. It is observed that focusing of two laser beams in plasma increases for higher order of hollow Gaussian beams,which significantly enhanced the power of generated EPW and energy gain. The amplitude of EPW and energy gain by electrons is found to enhance with an increase in the intensity of laser beams and plasma density. This study will be useful to plasma beat wave accelerator and in other applications requiring multiple laser beams.     

双频激光在等离子体中的共振自聚焦

本文从理论上详细地研究了双频激光在等离子体中的共振自聚焦。本章从流体方程出发,导出了双频激光驱动下等离子体的非线性介电常数,从而清楚地展示了等离子体波有质动力的影响。接着,具体地处理了等离子体纵向静电场,进而反映出共振自聚焦的具体特征。最后还讨论了共振自聚焦对拍频波加速器中粒子加速过程的影响。     

Double-line terawatt OPCPA laser system for exciting beat wave oscillations

A double-line terawatt beat laser (BEAT) is developed for exciting beat wave oscillations. BEAT consists of two oscillators and an amplification system including optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) in which two individual pulses with wavelength separations of 10–35 nm are amplified, recompressed, and focused as a single beam. The recompressed pulse trace shows that a 150-fs pulse duration full width at half maximum was modulated at a beating period of 72 fs. This beating period matches a resonant excitation of plasma wave with an electron density of 2.5 × 10¹⁸ cm^?3, resulting in excitation of a beat wave in hydrogen plasma with wave amplitude of 15 GV/m. The multiple beating oscillations can amplify the plasma wave and improve its structure. This scheme would be ideal for stabilizing the plasma wave strength in the plasma cavity and for realizing a practical laser plasma accelerator.     

Anfachung und Dämpfung magneto-akustischer Wellen in MHD-Kanälen und ihr Einfluß auf die mittlere Stromdichte und die mittlere Hall-Feldstärke

Magneto-acoustic waves generated by fluctuations in the Hall parameter, the electric conductivity and the stream velocity are theoretically investigated in a weakly ionized plasma streaming across a strong external magnetic field and bearing a current flowing perpendicular to both magnetic field and stream velocity. The investigations hold for seeded rare gas plasmas at any degree of seed ionization but are resticted to waves propagating in parallel or antiparallel direction to the current density vector and in parallel or antiparallel direction to the stream velocity vector and to wave lengths which are small in comparsion to the interaction length which occurs as a characteristic wave length. The influence of these waves on the mean current density and the mean Hall field intensity is calculated in case of small amplitudes and low degree of seed ionization up to second order terms. Omitting Ohmic heating the dispersion equation can be solved exactly. A phase shift exists between the fluctuations in gas density and gas velocity. The phase velocity and the amplification rate depend on the wave length. Typical results are represented in a diagram. For both types of waves the phase velocity slightly rises with increasing wave length, while the amplification rate decreases. Waves propagating in opposite direction to the current density vector are amplified, if the electron velocity exceeds a critical value. They reduce the mean current density and the mean Hall field intensity. Waves propagating in opposite direction to the stream velocity vector are also amplified except for very high degrees of seed ionization. The threshold current density is greater than that for the waves of the first type approximately by the Hall parameter as factor. At extremely high degree of seed ionization the phase velocity is directed opposite to the direction occuring at weakly ionized seed. Waves of the second type decrease the mean current density, but increase the mean Hall field intensity.     

Large Volume and High Density Surface Wave Plasmas Sustained by Two Microwave Launchers

Surface wave plasma （SWP） is an electromagnetic excitation along the planar interface between a dielectric and plasma medium when plasma density is so large that its permittivity becomes negative. An experiment SWP system consisting of two microwave launchers （upper and side microwave launcher） has been developed for producing large volume surface wave plasmas in our laboratory. The experimental investigation shows that comparable uniformity plasma with not only large volume but also high density properties has been obtained by the two launchers.     

Asymptotic theory of boundary layers of weakly ionized thermalplasmas on emitting electrodes

The paper deals with collision-dominated boundary layers of weakly ionized thermal plasmas on emitting electrodes. The case considered is when the dominating ionization mechanism in the plasma is ionization by electron impact, and the dominating recombination mechanism is recombination with an electron as a third body. The ratio of the Debye length to the recombination length is treated as a small parameter, and the method of matched asymptotic expansions is employed. Analytical formulas have been obtained for the distributions of the number densities of ions and electrons and of the electrostatic potential in each asymptotic zone. Formulas have been obtained describing the voltage drop in the boundary layer as a function of the density of the electric current coming from the plasma to the electrode     

Production of dense plasmas with sub-10-fs laser pulses

Close to solid state density plasmas with peak electron temperatures of about 190 eV have been generated with sub-10-fs laser pulses incident on solid targets. Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectroscopy is used to investigate the K shell emission from the plasma. In the spectra, a series limit for the H- and He-like resonance lines becomes evident which is explained by pressure ionization in the dense plasma. The spectra are consistent with computer simulations calculating the XUV emission and the expansion of the plasma.     

Ultrarelativistic excitation of beat waves in a hot magnetized plasma

Summary A theoretical investigation is made on the nonlinear relativistic excitation of an electrostatic electron plasma wave at the beat frequency of two high-power colinear laser beams in a hot, homogeneous and magnetized plasma. The relativistic Vlasov equation expressed in gyrokinetic variables has been employed to find the nonlinear response of the magnetized plasma electrons. It is noted that the power density associated with the excited beat wave is much higher for the relativistic consideration than that for the nonrelativistic consideration. The authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

高强度激光与等离子体相互作用中的受激Raman级联散射、光子凝聚以及大振幅电磁孤立子的产生与加速

应用一维相对论电磁粒子模拟程序，详细研究了线性极化强激光入射到无碰撞稀疏密度长等离子体中引起的受激Raman散射、Raman级联散射、级联散射到光子凝聚、以及大振幅电磁孤立子的产生与加速. 通过研究发现：在适当的激光振幅和等离子体状态下，强的光子凝聚现象会导致大振幅电磁孤立子的产生，电磁孤立子可以以静止、向后以及向前加速的形式存在；在密度均匀的等离子体中，电磁孤立子的加速不仅依赖于激光振幅而且依赖于等离子体的长度；电磁孤立子的电磁频率大约为未扰动电子等离子体振荡频率的二分之一左右，孤立子内电磁场的电场具有半周期结构，相应电磁场的磁场以及静电场则具有一个完整的周期结构. 关键词： 粒子模拟 受激Raman散射 Raman级联散射 光子凝聚 电磁孤立子     

Spatial-Resolved Measurement and Analysis of Extreme-Ultraviolet Emission Spectra from Laser-Produced Al Plasmas

Extreme ultraviolet emission from laser-produced A1 plasma is experimentally and theoretically investigated.Spatial-evolution emission spectra are measured by using the spatio-temporally resolved laser produced plasma technique.Based on the assumptions of a normalized Boltzmann distribution among the excited states and a steady-state collisional-radiative model,we succeed in reproducing the spectra at different detection positions,which are in good agreement with experiments.The decay curves about the electron temperature and electron density,as well as the fractions of individual A1 ions and average ionization stage with increasing the detection distance are obtained by comparison with the experimental measurements.These parameters are critical points for deeply understanding the expanding and cooling of laser produced plasmas in vacuum.     

非理想氩等离子体电子密度和平均离化度理论研究

用SHM模型计算了非理想Ar等离子体在温度T为2.0eV、密度ρ为0.01~0.5g•cm-3的电子密度和平均离化度。研究了非理想Ar等离子体电子密度和平均离化度随温度、密度的变化规律,得到了在温度T为2.0eV、密度ρ为0.01~0.5g•cm-3非理想Ar等离子体的平均离化度小于0.5的结果。这表明非理想Ar等离子体的平均离化度非常低,大量的Ar仍然处于非电离状态。计算的结果还显示了平均离化度随等离子体密度ρ增加而减小的特征,并分析了减小的原因。     

Optimization of laser propagation in optical-field-ionization plasmas for X-ray laser generation

Optical-field-ionization X-ray lasers are investigated numerically with a three-dimensional wave propagation code considering the effects of photoionization, energy depletion due to ionization, and refraction on pump laser pulses in spatially and temporally varied plasmas. By focusing the pump laser with small f-number optics at the optimal position, simulations show that diffraction and ionization-induced refraction in plasmas are compensated to keep the pump beam propagating at the optimal size for a longer distance. An amplification length as long as 5 mm can be achieved in Pd-like xenon and Ni-like krypton X-ray lasers at a pump energy of 160 mJ in 50-fs and 30-fs pulses, respectively. The significant reduction of the pump energy is a desirable step toward low-threshold and practical high-repetition-rate operations. PACS 42.55.Vc; 52.50.Jm     

Non‐linear interaction of a q‐Gaussian laser beam in a plasma channel created by the ignitor‐heater technique

This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the propagation characteristics of a q‐Gaussian laser beam propagating through a plasma channel created by the ignitor‐heater technique. The ignitor beam creates the plasma by tunnel‐ionization of air. The heater beam heats the plasma electrons and establishes a parabolic channel. The third beam (q‐Gaussian beam) is guided in the plasma channel under the combined effects of density non‐uniformity and non‐uniform ohmic heating of the plasma channel. Numerical solutions of the non‐linear Schrodinger wave equation (NSWE) for the fields of laser beams are obtained with the help of the moment theory approach. Particular emphasis is placed on the dynamical variations of the spot size of the laser beams and the longitudinal phase shift of the guided beam with the distance of propagation.     

Ionization and Cohesion in Dense Plasmas

Approximate formulas are derived for the critical density and pressure at which the atoms of hydrogen-like plasmas become ionized due to overlapping of the wave functions. By this mechanism, not only the thermally excited but also the ground state atoms of alkali plasmas become ionized already at moderate pressures. Numerical examples are given for H, Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs plasmas. It is shown that the (negative) electron-ion interaction energy balances the (positive) thermal energy for sufficiently high electron densities (e.g., n ~ 1020 cm-3 for T ~ 104 K) so that the plasma assumes a cohesive state similar to that of a (liquid) metal. From the quantum effects, the electron exchange energy contributes significantly to this "self-containment" of dense plasmas.     

Dispersion of Dust Acoustic Modes and Perturbations of Plasma Flux Balance

Previous considerations of dust acoustic waves is demonstrated to be inconsistent ‐ the required equilibrium state for perturbations was not defined since balance of plasma fluxes was neglecting. The self‐consistent treatment shows that plasma flux perturbations are accompanying any collective waves propagating in dusty plasmas and can play an important role in wave dispersion, wave damping and can create instabilities. This is illustrated by the derivation of dispersion relation for dust acoustic modes taking into account the plasma flux balances and plasma flux perturbations by waves. The result of this approach shows that the dust acoustic waves with linear dependence of wave frequency on the wave number exist only in restricted range of the wave numbers. Only for wave numbers larger than some critical wave number for low frequency modes the frequency can be have approximately a linear dependence on wave number and can be called as dust acoustic wave but the phase velocity of these waves is different from that which can be obtained neglecting the flux balance and depends on grain charge variations which are determined by the balance of fluxes. The presence of plasma fluxes previously neglected is the main typical feature of dusty plasmas. The dispersion relation in the range of small wave numbers is found to be mainly determined by the change of the plasma fluxes and is quite different from that of dust acoustic type, namely it is found to have the same form as the well known dispersion relation for the gravitational instability. This result proves in general way the existence of the collective grain attractions of negatively charged grains for for large distances between them and for any source of ionization. The attraction of grains found from dispersion relation of the dust acoustic branch coincides with that found previously for pair grain interactions using some models for the ionization source. For the existing experiments the effective Jeans length for such attraction is estimated to be about 8 – 10 times larger than the ion Debye length and the effective gravitational constant for the grain attraction is estimated to be several orders of magnitude larger than the usual gravitational constant. The grain attraction at large inter‐grain distances described by the gravitationlike grain instability is considered as the simplest explanation for observed dust cloud clustering, formation of dust structures including the plasma crystals. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)