飞秒超强激光驱动太赫兹辐射特性的实验研究

强太赫兹源是太赫兹科学技术发展的关键,其中大能量强场太赫兹脉冲源在超快物态调控、新型电子加速器等领域具有重要的应用前景.超快超强激光与等离子体相互作用是近年来发展起来的一种新型的强场太赫兹辐射产生途径.本文报道了利用超强飞秒激光脉冲与金属薄膜靶作用产生太赫兹辐射的实验结果,研究了激光能量和离焦量对靶后太赫兹辐射能量的影响,并通过监测激光背向散射光谱,定性揭示了其变化规律与不同光强下的电子加热机制的相关性.实验表征了太赫兹辐射的频谱、偏振及聚焦光斑情况.测量结果表明,实验产生了脉冲能量达458μJ、聚焦场强高达GV/m量级的超宽带太赫兹辐射,为开展极端太赫兹脉冲与物质相互作用研究提供了一种新的强场太赫兹光源.     

第一讲台面型电子加速器——激光尾波场加速器

近年来，随着超短超强激光脉冲技术的发展，利用超短超强激光在等离子体中激发出的高强度尾波场来实现电子加速的方案也取得了巨大进展．相对于传统的射频腔加速器，这种新型的加速器由于以等离子体为介质，可以突破传统加速器中加速梯度小于100MV／m的限制，其加速梯度可以达到100GV／m．电子在这样的加速场下，在厘米量级的距离内就可以获得GeV的能量．随着台面型超短超强激光器的发展，新一代实用化的台面型电子加速器有望在不远的将来得以实现．文章将从理论和实验上对激光尾波场加速中的尾波激发、电子注入、距离延长三个方面加以介绍，同时给出国内在这些方面的一些研究进展．     

强激光与等离子体相互作用中低频电磁场孤子波的产生及其捕获

用二维粒子模拟程序研究了超短脉冲强激光与等离子体相互作用中局域低频电磁场的产生现象.这种低频电磁场在超短脉冲激光激发尾波场、脉冲后沿产生频率下移的过程中形成.通常它们的振荡频率接近于或低于电子等离子体振荡频率，因而被捕获在等离子体中(即传播速度接近于零).在演化过程中，通常它们以孤子场的形式出现.这种孤子波的形成及其演化与离子运动有极大关系.用相对论强激光脉冲可以产生达到相对论振幅的电磁场孤子波，后者可以把离子加速到非常高的能量.研究还表明，在二维几何位形下，孤子波产生与入射光的偏振态有很大关系.     

多脉冲激光增强太赫兹辐射的PIC模拟

 模拟了强激光和稀薄非均匀等离子体相互作用在界面辐射超强太赫兹波的物理过程,提出了利用多脉冲激光增强太赫兹辐射的方案,详细研究了多脉冲激光的脉冲个数（取１～４个）、脉冲间距等因素对太赫兹辐射功率和频率的影响。当入射激光包含4个脉冲时,辐射最强,此时的辐射功率是相同条件下单脉冲的6倍,可达到7.16 MW,辐射的太赫兹波的脉宽约为330 fs,总能量约为1 μJ。研究结果表明:多脉冲激光可以显著增强太赫兹辐射,且随着脉冲个数的增加,激起的电子静电波振幅变大,辐射功率也随之变大,直到尾流场饱和;当脉冲间距等于入射激光脉宽时辐射最强。     

激光等离子体光丝中太赫兹频谱的调控

研究了双色激光场激发空气成丝产生太赫兹辐射频谱的变化规律.实验观察到随驱动光功率和光丝长度增加,太赫兹光谱主要发生红移的现象.分析表明,由于等离子体密度的增加,太赫兹辐射的趋肤深度减小,等离子体吸收主导了红移的发生.在光丝足够短的条件下,趋肤深度远大于光丝长度,从而产生等离子体振荡主导的太赫兹辐射光谱蓝移.本研究为超快宽带太赫兹辐射的频谱调控提供了新思路.     

超强激光驱动天线靶的太赫兹辐射物理特性研究

利用激光与等离子体相互作用产生超强太赫兹辐射的研究成为国内外研究的热点。基于Smith提出的线形天线辐射理论,对超强超短激光脉冲驱动天线靶产生太赫兹的辐射特性进行研究,建立了完备的辐射空间分布和频谱空间分布表达式。利用激光脉冲长度与天线长度的比值对辐射场分布的影响,讨论了固定天线长度时的最佳激光脉冲长度,以及固定激光条件时,天线长度对辐射场的频谱和空间分布的调制作用。理论分析结果表明,激光脉冲长度决定了辐射频率范围,激光脉冲长度与天线长度的比值决定了辐射场峰值的方向和频谱分布,为设计合理实验方案提供理论依据。     

强场宽带太赫兹波辐射的研究进展

太赫兹光谱分析和检测技术在材料特性研究、医学诊断、环境监控等方面具有广阔的应用前景。目前高性能太赫兹源的缺乏是太赫兹光谱检测和成像技术发展缓慢的制约因素之一。因此,强场宽带太赫兹源的开发一直是太赫兹领域的研究重点。综述超快飞秒激光脉冲驱动下强场太赫兹波辐射的研究进展,详述激光激励金属纳米薄膜、气体和液体中等离子体辐射宽频强场太赫兹波的现象和物理机制,并比较了各种强场太赫兹产生方法的特点和优缺点,最后讨论基于超快激光激发物质产生太赫兹波的发展前景及所面临的挑战。     

超短脉冲强激光与等离子体的非线性相互作用

超短脉冲强光与等离子体相互作用是近年来令人注目的一个前沿领域。介绍了其中的超短脉冲强激光与非稠密等离子体作用中的激光尾波场与尾波场加速器、光脉冲频率上转换与脉宽正缩、相对论光导等重要研究课题。还介绍了超短脉冲强激光与固体靶作用听吸收机制，短标尺长等离子体产生、能量输运等有关问题的研究。     

激光参数影响太赫兹辐射的数值模拟

 利用2维PIC程序模拟了聚焦激光脉冲垂直入射非均匀等离子体,在界面激发超强太赫兹辐射的物理过程,研究了激光强度、脉宽和焦斑半径对太赫兹辐射功率和频率的影响,并和模式转换理论作了对比。结果表明:激光强度是影响太赫兹辐射功率的主要因素;当脉宽在等离子体波长附近时,激起的静电波振幅最大,此时对应的太赫兹辐射最强;同时存在一个最优的焦斑半径,使得辐射功率最大。     

利用空气来探测脉冲太赫兹波

曾有报道利用飞秒激光脉冲通过空气中的三阶光学非线性过程产生高强度的太赫兹波．理论上，作为太赫兹波产生的逆过程，有可能实现用空气作为介质探测脉冲太赫兹波．作者以空气或激光诱导的空气等离子体作为介质，通过测量太赫兹波场诱导产生的二次谐波信号，首次实现了宽带太赫兹波的时间分辨探测，本文介绍了空气中太赫兹波的非相干和相干探测的实验结果和理论分析．迄今为止，这种具有突破意义的太赫兹波空气电离相干探测法（THz-ABCD）的频谱宽度可以超过8THz，实现动态范围可达30dB。     

激光尾波场驱动准连续小角度电子束研究进展

报道了在北京大学新建成的5 Hz 200 TW飞秒激光加速器实验装置上利用68 TW(1.7 J,25 fs)的激光与混合气体(99%He掺杂1%N_2)进行激光电子加速的初步实验结果与理论分析.在实验中观测到了最大截止能量为290 MeV的连续电子能谱,并且最大输出能量在一定的聚焦范围内基本不变.二维particle-in-cell模拟表明:电离注入导致电子不断注入,使得纵向相空间在激光传播几个毫米后基本被电子填满;之后相空间中电子分布基本保持稳定,随着激光传播距离的增加,输出电子最大能量几乎不变,这与实验观察到的最大输出能量随激光聚焦位置在一定范围内不变的现象一致.实验与模拟结果揭示了在当前实验条件下连续电离注入对电子束品质的影响,为今后进一步优化电离注入电子品质提供了依据.     

Simulation of THz emission from laser interaction with plasmas

One-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) program is used to simulate the generation of high power terahertz (THz) emission from the interaction of an ultrashort intense laser pulse with underdense plasma. The spectra of THz radiation are discussed under different laser intensity, pulse width, incident angle and density scale length. High-amplitude electron plasma wave driven by a laser wakefield can produce powerful THz emission through linear mode conversion under certain conditions. With incident laser intensity of 10¹⁸ W/cm², the generated emission is computed to be of the order of several MV/cm field and tens of MW level power. The corresponding energy conversion efficiency is several ten thousandths, which is higher then the efficiency of other THz source and suitable for the studies of THz nonlinear physics.     

Emission of electromagnetic pulses from laser wakefields through linear mode conversion

Powerful coherent emission around the plasma oscillation frequency can be produced from a laser wakefield through linear mode conversion. This occurs when the laser pulse is incident obliquely to the density gradient of inhomogeneous plasmas. The emission spectrum and conversion efficiency are obtained analytically, which are in agreement with particle-in-cell simulations. The emission can be tuned to be a radiation source in the terahertz region and with field strengths as large as a few GV/m, suitable for high-field applications. The emission also provides a simple way to measure the wakefield produced for particle acceleration.     

激光-等离子体加速器研究综述

综述了有关激光尾场加速器、等离子体拍频波加速器、多束激光脉冲驱动的尾场加速器以及自调制激光尾场加速器的概念及其基本特性,概述了近期的实验结果。介绍了等离子体波的产生机理及等离子体波中电子的俘获和加速,并讨论了存在于激光等离子体加速器中的一些限制和今后发展前景。     

Wakefield generation by elliptically polarized femtosecond laserpulse in ionizing gases

Wakefield generation by a femtosecond laser pulse is described in the frame of the slowly varying amplitudes approximation. The amplitude of the wakefield A, is studied as a function of laser pulse and background gas parameters, and is compared with well-known results for preformed, completely ionized plasma A_p,i. It is found that the ionization processes can increase A_p as compared to A_p,i at comparatively high laser peak intensities. It is shown that the increase of the wakefield amplitude due to gas ionization is more pronounced for circularly polarized laser pulses than for linearly polarized laser pulses. The strongest enhancement of A_p in comparison with A_p,i takes place for longer laser pulses with a duration in excess of the plasma wave period when the resonant conditions for ponderomotive excitation of the wakefield are not matched. Thus, ionization processes can expand the region of parameters for efficient generation of the laser wakefields     

Effects of Higher-Order Relativistic Nonlinearity and Wakefield During a Moderately Intense Laser Pulse Propagation in a Plasma Channel

Using a variational approach, the propagation of a moderately intense laser pulse in a parabolic preformed plasma channel is investigated. The effects of higher-order relativistic nonlinearity (HRN) and wakefield are included. The effect of HRN serves as an additional defocusing mechanism and has the same order of magnitude in the spot size as that of the transverse wakefield (TWF). The effect of longitudinal wakefield is much larger than those of HRN and TWF for an intense laser pulse with the pulse length equaling the plasma wavelength. The catastrophic focusing of the laser spot size would be prevented in the present of HRN and then it varies with periodic focusing oscillations.     

Effects of Higher-Order Relativistic Nonlinearity and Wakefield During a Moderately Intense Laser Pulse Propagation in a Plasma Channel

Using a variational approach,the propagation of a moderately intense laser pulse in a parabolic preformed plasma channel is investigated.The effects of higher-order relativistic nonlinearity (HRN) and wakefield are included.The effect of HRN serves as an additional defocusing mechanism and has the same order of magnitude in the spot size as that of the transverse wakefield (TWF).The effect of longitudinal wakefield is much larger than those of HRN and TWF for an intense laser pulse with the pulse length equaling the plasma wavelength.The catastrophic focusing of the laser spot size would be prevented in the present of HRN and then it varies with periodic focusing oscillations.     

Optical-to-THz wave conversion via excitation of plasma oscillations in the tunneling-ionization process

A new ("linear-parametric") mechanism of a direct conversion of an ultrashort laser pulse into terahertz radiation is suggested. The conversion is due to the ionization-induced excitation and the subsequent electromagnetic emission of the superluminous polarization wave created by the axicon-focused laser pulse. For a few-cycle pulse with an optimum carrier-envelope phase, the considered mechanism is found to be much more effective than the alternative one based on the excitation of plasma oscillations in the laser wakefield by the ponderomotive force and able to provide THz radiation of the gigawatt power level with the use of moderate optical intensity (approximately 10(14)-10(15) W/cm2).     

基于激光尾场加速的自反射式全光汤姆孙散射的参数优化

基于激光尾场加速的全光汤姆孙散射能够提供高质量X射线束并大大减小装置的尺寸.与分光式相比,自反射式的构架可以降低实验的时空同步难度,但是由于激光尾场电子加速和汤姆孙散射过程耦合, X射线优化难度大,目前缺乏参数优化的相关报道.本文用数值模拟修正解析理论的方法,定量分析了激光尾场电子加速和汤姆孙散射过程中激光和电子束的焦斑、脉宽、能量等参数变化情况,并给出了激光在等离子体镜上的反射率,从而实现了用解析公式计算而非数值模拟跟踪参数变化,在保证精度的同时节约了计算时间.另外,利用修正后的公式优化了给定激光条件下的自反射式全光汤姆孙散射X射线,通过改变等离子体密度和等离子体镜位置这两个参数给出了最优X射线亮度和光子产额,该方法为将来结合人工智能优化控制全光汤姆孙散射光源提供了理论基础.     

Electron acceleration in an ultraintense-laser-illuminated capillary

An ultraintense laser injected a 10 J of power at 1.053 microm in 0.5 ps into a glass capillary of 1 cm long and 60 microm in diameter and accelerated plasma electrons to 100 MeV. One- and two-dimensional particle codes describe wakefields with 10 GV/m gradient excited behind the laser pulse, which are guided by a plasma density channel far beyond the Rayleigh range. The blueshift of the laser spectrum supports that a plasma of 10(16) cm(-3) is inside the capillary. A bump at the high energy tail suggests the electron trapping in the wakefield.