强激光与亚临界密度等离子体相互作用中的近前向散射驱动光子加速机制

通过二维粒子模拟(particle-in-cell)方法研究了强激光与亚临界密度等离子体相互作用中的近前向光子加速机制.该机制利用强激光在亚临界密度气体传输过程中的电离效应产生在纵向和横向上密度分布不均匀的电子等离子体.在纵向上,入射激光电离氦气产生一个陡峭的电子密度前沿分布.在密度前沿处,入射激光与电子等离子体波作用发生近前向散射.散射光频率较激光频率增大,在频谱中产生了第一个特征峰.在横向上,密度不均匀造成电子等离子体波具有不同的相速度并与入射激光相互作用,使入射激光发生近前向散射,在频谱中产生了第2个特征峰.由于密度分布的不均匀性较电子等离子体波的密度扰动大得多,因此基于微扰理论的散射模型和色散关系,如受激拉曼散射,无法解释频谱中两个特征峰的出现.进一步研究发现:在密度不均匀的情况下,入射激光、电子等离子体波和散射光三者之间仍满足动量和能量守恒的三波耦合关系.这能够解释两个特征峰对应的频率和强度增长过程.该研究对于强激光在亚临界密度气体传输过程中的频谱演化具有重要参考意义.     

Post-solitons and electron vortices generated by femtosecond intense laser interacting with uniform near-critical-density plasmas

Generation of nonlinear structures, such as stimulated Raman side scattering waves, post-solitons and electron vortices, during ultra-short intense laser pulse transportation in near-critical-density (NCD) plasmas is studied by using multi-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. In two-dimensional geometries, both P- and S-polarized laser pulses are used to drive these nonlinear structures and to check the polarization effects on them. In the S-polarized case, the scattered waves can be captured by surrounding plasmas leading to the generation of post-solitons, while the main pulse excites convective electric currents leading to the formation of electron vortices through Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). In the P-polarized case, the scattered waves dissipate their energy by heating surrounding plasmas. Electron vortices are excited due to the hosing instability of the drive laser. These polarization dependent physical processes are reproduced in two different planes perpendicular to the laser propagation direction in three-dimensional simulation with linearly polarized laser driver. The current work provides inspiration for future experiments of laser-NCD plasma interactions.     

强激光与近临界密度等离子体相互作用中的无碰撞静电冲击波产生

本文通过一维粒子模拟(particle-in-cell)方法研究了强激光与近临界密度等离子体相互作用中的弱冲击波和强冲击波产生,并讨论了非相对论和相对论光强以及等离子体密度分布区间对无碰撞冲击波形成的影响.非相对论的弱驱动光与等离子体相互作用产生的是弱冲击波.由于电子加热不充分,电子能谱呈现出双温分布.较低温度的电子对弱冲击波的形成以及质子反射加速有重要作用.弱冲击波加速质子的能谱呈连续分布.在等离子体密度上升沿区间较大时,可观察到后孤子结构向离子声波结构演化并进一步演化为弱冲击波结构的过程.在相对论的强驱动光强下,电子加热比较充分可达到相对论温度,且呈现出单温分布.进一步分析密度分布区间大小对冲击波形成的影响时发现:1)当等离子体密度上升沿区间较大时,离子声波的势垒易被热电子屏蔽且离子声波结构在传输的过程中容易被后续的激光破坏而无法演化为无碰撞冲击波;2)当等离子密度分布区间较小时,离子声波中加速电场的有效距离(即德拜长度)和持续时间更长,这导致其结构在传输过程中更加稳定.当离子声波中加速的质子与靶后鞘层场加速的质子之间的速度差满足无碰撞冲击波的离子反射条件时,离子声波进一步演化为强...     

Laser-driven relativistic electron dynamics in a cylindrical plasma channel

The energy and trajectory of the electron, which is irradiated by a high-power laser pulse in a cylindrical plasma channel with a uniform positive charge and a uniform negative current, have been analyzed in terms of a single-electron model of direct laser acceleration. We find that the energy and trajectory of the electron strongly depend on the positive charge density, the negative current density, and the intensity of the laser pulse. The electron can be accelerated significantly only when the positive charge density, the negative current density, and the intensity of the laser pulse are in suitable ranges due to the dephasing rate between the wave and electron motion. Particularly, when their values satisfy a critical condition,the electron can stay in phase with the laser and gain the largest energy from the laser. With the enhancement of the electron energy, strong modulations of the relativistic factor cause a considerable enhancement of the electron transverse oscillations across the channel, which makes the electron trajectory become essentially three-dimensional, even if it is flat at the early stage of the acceleration.