The Electrostatic Trapping of an Intense Relativistic Electron Beam in a Magnetic Mirror

Observations of rapid axial oscillations of an intense relativistic electron beam in a magnetic mirror are reported. The mirror field primarily provides radial confinement of the relativistic electrons. The axial confinement was achieved by placing thin aluminized mylar foils at the conjugate mirror field maxima. The region between these foils was filled with a few Torr air to provide a beam induced plasma for charge and current neutralization. The regions outside these foils were maintained at ~10-4 Torr. One foil formed the anode of a space-charge limited relativistic electron diode which launched the beam into the mirror. When the beam passed through the second foil it was no longer charge neutralized. In a manner quite similar to the anode foil oscillations observed by others, a space-charge limited electrostatic well was established which stopped the electrons and re-accelerated them through the foil-thereby reflecting the beam. When the reflected electrons re-entered the diode, they were once again "electrostatically" reflected. This process continued until the oscillating beam was either lost through the "virtual cathodes" outside the foils, dissipated in the drift region or quenched in the diode plasma after gap closure.     

Production of low-emittance MeV protons by localized electrons

Energetic proton beam generation and the suppression of transverse proton beam divergence are investigated in this paper. In laser-foil interactions, foil ions are accelerated by an ambipolar field created by accelerated high-energy electrons. The high-energy electrons are generated by the ponderomotive force of an intense laser. When an intense laser illuminates a hydrogen foil target, the electrons are strongly accelerated longitudinally, and a localized negative electrostatic potential is generated at the opposite side of the laser illumination. Foil protons are accelerated longitudinally and at the same time extracted to the central axis of the laser by the localized potential in the transverse direction. Consequently, transverse proton divergence is suppressed and a low-emittance MeV proton beam is produced.     

Effect of relativistic plasma on extreme-ultraviolet harmonic emission from intense laser-matter interactions

Experiments were performed in which intense laser pulses (up to 9x10(19) W/cm(2)) were used to irradiate very thin (submicron) mass-limited aluminum foil targets. Such interactions generated high-order harmonic radiation (greater than the 25th order) which was detected at the rear of the target and which was significantly broadened, modulated, and depolarized because of passage through the dense relativistic plasma. The spectral modifications are shown to be due to the laser absorption into hot electrons and the subsequent sharply increasing relativistic electron component within the dense plasma.     

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.     

激光等离子体相互作用中的两级质子加速（英文）北大核心CSCD

研究了激光辐射压驱动的两级质子加速的相关问题。当超短超强激光脉冲与处在背景等离子体前方的薄固体平靶相互作用时,在固体靶后部形成一个电子层-离子层组成的双层结构。在激光的不断推进下,双层结构在背景等离子体里以一定速度传播,可以看成运动在背景等离子体中的电场。这样,在背景等离子体中的质子被这个运动电场捕获并能加速到很高的能量。通过二维PIC模拟方法和理论分析研究了质子加速的相关问题。研究结果表明,被加速质子的最大能量达到20GeV。     

Ultrabright γ-ray emission from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a near-critical-density plasma

An efficient scheme for generating ultrabright γ-rays from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a near-critical-density plasma is studied by using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation including quantum electrodynamic effects. We investigate the effects of target shape on γ-ray generation efficiency using three configurations of the solid foils attached behind the near-critical-density plasma: a flat foil without a channel (target 1), a flat foil with a channel (target 2), and a convex foil with a channel (target 3). When an intense laser propagates in a near-critical-density plasma, a large number of electrons are trapped and accelerated to GeV energy, and emit γ-rays via nonlinear betatron oscillation in the first stage. In the second stage, the accelerated electrons collide with the laser pulse reflected from the foil and emit high-energy, high-density γ-rays via nonlinear Compton scattering. The simulation results show that compared with the other two targets, target 3 affords better focusing of the laser field and electrons, which decreases the divergence angle of γ-photons. Consequently, denser and brighter γ-rays are emitted when target 3 is used. Specifically, a dense γ-ray pulse with a peak brightness of 4.6×10²⁶ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 100 MeV) and 1.8×10²³ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 2 GeV) are obtained at a laser intensity of 8.5×10²² W/cm² when the plasma density is equal to the critical plasma density n_c. In addition, for target 3, the effects of plasma channel length, foil curvature radius, laser polarization, and laser intensity on the γ-ray emission are discussed, and optimal values based on a series of simulations are proposed.     

超相对论强度激光与薄膜靶作用中0.4 nm以下X射线阿秒脉冲的产生

用一维粒子模拟程序对功率密度在10²² W/cm²以上的超强激光驱动薄膜靶产生的相对论电子层及其经过汤姆孙散射产生的阿秒X射线进行了研究. 结果表明, 在超相对论强度范围下增大驱动激光强度, 相应减小等离子体密度及厚度可使电子层获得更高纵向动量, 使汤姆孙散射光明显向更短波长移动. 优化相关参数得到了波长为 1.168 nm的阿秒脉冲. 经过对倍频探测光方案与驱动光以及薄膜靶参数进行综合考虑和优化, 得到的X射线相干辐射波长有效减小到0.4 nm以下, 产生的光子能量达到2 keV以上. 关键词： 超相对论强度激光 阿秒X射线 相对论电子层 汤姆孙后向散射     

中空等离子体通道中强激光脉冲对电子的加速

分析了中空等离子体通道内传播的强激光脉冲电磁场中注入电子的运动,发现当激光脉冲强度超过某个阈值时,电子能获得有效的纵向加速并自动与脉冲分离.所得结果为实验提供了参考和依据.     

Surface acceleration of fast electrons with relativistic self-focusing in preformed plasma

We report an observation of surface acceleration of fast electrons in intense laser-plasma interactions. When a preformed plasma is presented in front of a solid target with a higher laser intensity, the emission direction of fast electrons is changed to the target surface direction from the laser and specular directions. This feature could be caused by the formation of a strong static magnetic field along the target surface which traps and holds fast electrons on the surface. In our experiment, the increase in the laser intensity due to relativistic self-focusing in plasma plays an important role for the formation. The strength of the magnetic field is calculated from the bent angle of the electrons, resulting in tens of percent of laser magnetic field, which agrees well with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell calculation. The strong surface current explains the high conversion efficiency on the cone-guided fast ignitor experiments.     

Relativistic Derivation of the Ponderomotive Force Produced by Two Intense Laser Fields

The ponderomotive force plays a fundamental role in the absorption of laser light on self-consistent plasma density profiles, in multiple-photon ionization, and in intense field electrodynamics. The relativistic corrections to the ponderomotive force of a transversely polarized electromagnetic wave lead to an approximately 20-percent reduction in the single particle ponderomotive force produced by a 10-?m 1016-W/cm2 laser field. Recent experimental investigations are based on using two intense laser fields to produce desired laser-matter interactions. This paper presents the first derivation of the nonlinear relativistic ponderomotive force produced by two intense laser fields. The results demonstrate that relativistic ponderomotive forces are not additive.     

利用等离子体非线性系数实现超强脉冲的压缩

超短脉冲压缩技术在强场物理研究中有非常重要的作用,但由于强场电离现象在惰性气体自相位调制脉冲压缩技术中限制了脉冲的能量。Tempea等人提出可以采用等离子体非线性系数对脉冲进行压缩,本文在考虑毛细管内表面电离的情况下,讨论能量为10mJ左右,脉宽为50fs的脉冲的压缩问题,发现可以将脉冲压缩至5fs左右。计算表明频谱展宽可以在气体密度很低的情况下进行,这样半可以减小电子对脉冲传输的影响。同时,由于毛细管内表面也处于电及状态,从而使脉冲能量不会受到电离阈值的.限制。     

激光功率密度对Al膜靶后表面快电子发射的影响

 报道了在20 TW皮秒激光器上完成的p偏振激光与等离子体相互作用过程中产生的快电子的角分布和能谱测量结果。实验得到：当激光功率密度小于10¹⁷ W/cm²时,电子发射没有明显定向性,在激光入射面内多峰发射;当激光功率密度大于10¹⁷ W/cm2,小于10¹⁸ W/cm²时,电子主要沿靶面法线方向发射;当激光功率密度达到相对论强度时,电子主要沿激光传播方向发射;激光功率密度未达到相对论强度时,靶后表面法线方向快电子能谱拟合平均温度符合共振吸收温度定标率;激光功率密度达相对论强度以上时,靶后表面法线方向快电子能谱拟合平均温度高于已有的温度定标率。     

激光与相对论电子束相互作用中阿秒X射线脉冲的产生

本文对激光与相对论电子束相互作用产生的阿秒X射线脉冲进行了研究.阿秒X射线脉冲是由于激光被相对论运动的电子束经过汤姆孙后向散射产生的.讨论了等离子体参数对产生的阿秒X射线的影响.发现其波长随着入射激光的频率的增加或电子束的速度增加而减小.选择合适的参数还可以获得"水窗"波段的X射线.还讨论了相对论电子束的密度与其前沿的密度梯度的大小对所产生X射线的转化效率的影响. 关键词： 阿秒X射线脉冲 汤姆孙后向散射 超强激光 相对论电子束     

Laser shaping of a relativistic intense, short Gaussian pulse by a plasma lens

By 3D particle-in-cell simulation and analysis, we propose a plasma lens to make high intensity, high contrast laser pulses with a steep front. When an intense, short Gaussian laser pulse of circular polarization propagates in near-critical plasma, it drives strong currents of relativistic electrons which magnetize the plasma. Three pulse shaping effects are synchronously observed when the laser passes through the plasma lens. The laser intensity is increased by more than 1 order of magnitude while the initial Gaussian profile undergoes self-modulation longitudinally and develops a steep front. Meanwhile, a nonrelativistic prepulse can be absorbed by the overcritical plasma lens, which can improve the laser contrast without affecting laser shaping of the main pulse. If the plasma skin length is properly chosen and kept fixed, the plasma lens can be used for varied laser intensity above 10(19) W/cm(2).     

Nonlinear interaction of ultraintense laser pulse with relativistic thin plasma foil in the radiation pressure-dominant regime

We present a study of the effect of laser pulse temporal profile on the energy /momentum acquired by the ions as a result of the ultraintense laser pulse focussed on a thin plasma layer in the radiation pressure-dominant (RPD) regime. In the RPD regime, the plasma foil is pushed by ultraintense laser pulse when the radiation cannot propagate through the foil, while the electron and ion layers move together. The nonlinear character of laser–matter interaction is exhibited in the relativistic frequency shift, and also change in the wave amplitude as the EM wave gets reflected by the relativistically moving thin dense plasma layer. Relativistic effects in a high-energy plasma provide matching conditions that make it possible to exchange very effectively ordered kinetic energy and momentum between the EM fields and the plasma. When matter moves at relativistic velocities, the efficiency of the energy transfer from the radiation to thin plasma foil is more than 30% and in ultrarelativistic case it approaches one. The momentum /energy transfer to the ions is found to depend on the temporal profile of the laser pulse. Our numerical results show that for the same laser and plasma parameters, a Lorentzian pulse can accelerate ions upto 0.2 GeV within 10 fs which is 1.5 times larger than that a Gaussian pulse can.     

Nonlinear propagation of an intense Laguerre–Gaussian laser pulse in a plasma channel

The nonlinear propagation of an intense Laguerre–Gaussian(LG) laser pulse in a parabolic preformed plasma channel is analyzed by means of the variational method. The evolution equation of the spot size is derived including the effects of relativistic self-focusing, preformed channel focusing, and ponderomotive self-channeling. The parametric conditions of the LG laser pulse and plasma channel for propagating with constant spot size, periodically focusing and defocusing oscillation,catastrophic focusing, and solitary waves are obtained. Compared with the laser pulse with fundamental Gaussian(FG)mode, it is found that the effect of vacuum diffraction is reduced by half and the effects of relativistic and wakefield focusing are decreased by a quarter due to the hollow transverse intensity profile of the LG laser pulse, while the effect of channel focusing is the same order of magnitude with that of the FG laser pulse. Thus, the matched condition for the intense LG laser pulse with constant spot size is released obviously, while the parameters of the laser and plasma for the existence of solitary waves nearly coincide with those of the FG laser pulse.     

Pulse chirping effect on controlling the transverse cavity oscillations in nonlinear bubble regime

The propagation of an intense laser pulse in an under-dense plasma induces a plasma wake that is suitable for the acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies. For an ultra-intense laser pulse which has a longitudinal size shorter than the plasma wavelength, λp, instead of a periodic plasma wave, a cavity free from cold plasma electrons, called a bubble, is formed behind the laser pulse. An intense charge separation electric field inside the moving bubble can capture the electrons at the base of the bubble and accelerate them with a narrow energy spread. In the nonlinear bubble regime, due to localized depletion at the front of the pulse during its propagation through the plasma, the phase shift between carrier waves and pulse envelope plays an important role in plasma response. The carrier–envelope phase(CEP) breaks down the symmetric transverse ponderomotive force of the laser pulse that makes the bubble structure unstable. Our studies using a series of two-dimensional(2D) particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations show that the frequency-chirped laser pulses are more effective in controlling the pulse depletion rate and consequently the effect of the CEP in the bubble regime. The results indicate that the utilization of a positively chirped laser pulse leads to an increase in rate of erosion of the leading edge of the pulse that rapidly results in the formation of a steep intensity gradient at the front of the pulse. A more unstable bubble structure, the self-injections in different positions, and high dark current are the results of using a positively chirped laser pulse. For a negatively chirped laser pulse, the pulse depletion process is compensated during the propagation of the pulse in plasma in such a way that results in a more stable bubble shape and therefore, a localized electron bunch is produced during the acceleration process. As a result, by the proper choice of chirping, one can tune the number of self-injected electrons, the size of accelerated bunch and its energy spectrum to the values required for practical applications.     

激光等离子体二维相对论电磁粒子模拟

研制了激光等离子体二维相对论电磁粒子模拟程序(2DCIC)。追踪几万甚至百万个模拟粒子在外加激光场和自洽场中运动,自洽地计算电荷和电流密度,求解完全的Maxwel方程,电子的相对论运动方程和离子的牛顿运动方程,辅以灵活的诊断研究波-波,波-粒子相互作用的发生、发展和饱和的细节以及时间演化规律。激光可以正入射,也可以斜入射;等离子体可以是均匀密度,也可以具有密度梯度;为了节约机时,还发展了并行运算。物理模型参数可调,既适用于研究激光聚变等离子体相互作用,也适用于超短脉冲超强激光等离子体相互作用和其它等离子体问题。经过多次试算检验,对等离子体平衡态进行了计算研究,对于超短脉冲超强激光的传播也进行了初步模拟计算。     

强激光部分离化等离子体成丝不稳定性

从部分离化等离子体和通常的全离化等离子体的差异是存在束缚电子出发,分析强激光在部分离化等离子体中的传播和折射指数,其束缚电子加强成丝不稳定性的发展.对钕玻璃三倍频激光金靶等离子体的原子成丝不稳定性进行了计算和分析.结果表明强激光部分离化等离子体的原子成丝不稳定性显著高于相对论成丝不稳定性. 关键词： 激光等离子体相互作用 部分离化等离子体 成丝不稳定性     

Ensemble of ultra-high intensity attosecond pulses from laser-plasma interaction

The efficient generation of intense X-rays and γ-radiation is studied. The scheme is based on the relativistic mirror concept, i.e., a flying thin plasma slab interacts with a counterpropagating laser pulse, reflecting part of it in the form of an intense ultra-short electromagnetic pulse having an up-shifted frequency. In the proposed scheme a series of relativistic mirrors is generated in the interaction of the intense laser with a thin foil target as the pulse tears off and accelerates thin electron layers. A counterpropagating pulse is reflected by these flying layers in the form of an ensemble of ultra-short pulses resulting in a significant energy gain of the reflected radiation due to the momentum transfer from flying layers.