入射电子能量对低密度聚乙烯深层充电特性的影响

高能带电粒子与航天器介质材料相互作用引起的深层带电现象, 一直是威胁航天器安全运行的重要因素之一. 考虑入射电子在介质中的电荷沉积、能量沉积分布以及介质中的非线性暗电导和辐射诱导电导, 建立了介质深层充电的单极性电荷输运物理模型. 通过求解电荷连续性方程和泊松方程, 可以得出不同能量 (0.1–0.5 MeV) 电子辐射下, 低密度聚乙烯 (厚度为1 mm) 介质中的电荷输运特性. 计算结果表明, 不同能量的电子辐射下, 介质充电达到平衡时, 最大电场随入射能量的增加而减小; 同一能量辐射下, 最大电场随束流密度的增大而增加. 入射电子能量较低时 (≤ 0.3 MeV) , 最大电场随束流密度的变化趋势基本相同. 具体表现为: 当束流密度大于3× 10^-9 A/m²时, 最大场强超过击穿阈值2×10⁷ V/m, 发生静电放电 (ESD) 的可能性较大. 随着入射电子能量的增加, 发生静电放电 (ESD) 的临界束流密度增大, 在能量为0.4 MeV时, 临界束流密度为6×10^-8 A/m². 当能量大于等于0.5 MeV时, 在束流密度为10^-9–10^-6 A/m²的范围内, 均不会发生静电放电 (ESD) . 该物理模型对于深入研究深层充放电效应、评估航天器在空间环境下 深层带电程度及防护设计具有重要的意义. 关键词： 高能电子辐射 低密度聚乙烯(LDPE) 介质深层充电 电导特性     

On the feasibility of the coulomb explosion of a metal

The mechanism of the Coulomb explosion of a metal in an external pulsed electric field is discussed. In the case of a low-frequency field, when its frequency is lower than the frequency of electron collisions, it is impossible to reach the conditions of the Coulomb explosion of a metal if the field pulse duration is shorter than the time of electron energy relaxation upon elastic collisions, and the electron temperature is well above the Fermi energy and the work function. In the case of a high-frequency field, e.g., in a powerful pulse of ultraviolet laser radiation, the Coulomb explosion can occur if the field strength is well above the intraatomic field strength (i.e., when the laser power density is ≥10¹⁹ W/cm²).     

Experiments on two-step heating of a dense plasma in the GOL-3 facility

This paper presents the results of experiments on two-stage heating of a dense plasma by a relativistic electron beam in the GOL-3 facility. A dense plasma with a length of about a meter and a hydrogen density up to 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ was created in the main plasma, whose density was 10¹⁵ cm⁻³. In the process of interacting with the plasma, the electron beam (1 MeV, 40 kA, 4 μs) imparts its energy to the electrons of the main plasma through collective effects. The heated electrons, as they disperse along the magnetic field lines, in turn reach the region of dense plasma and impart their energy to it by pairwise collisions. Estimates based on experimental data are given for the parameters of the flux of hot plasma electrons, the energy released in the dense plasma, and the energy balance of the beam-plasma system. The paper discusses the dynamics of the plasma, which is inhomogeneous in density and temperature, including the appearance of pressure waves. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 897–917 (March 1998)     

Nonclassical transport in a nonequilibrium laser plasma

The onset of a nonequilibrium distribution function in a plasma produced by laser radiation at fluxes I - 10¹⁴ W/cm² is considered. The model employed takes consistent account of the nonlocality of the electron distribution at large density and temperature gradients, the demaxwellizing effect of the external hf field of the laser, and the nondiffusion of the transport in the high-energy part of the electron-distribution spectrum. Numerical solution of the corresponding kinetic equations shows that establishment of a nonequilibrium electron distribution in the corona suppresses the heat transport substantially. Good agreement is obtained between the kinetic value of the heat flux and the phenomenological value needed to reconcile the hydrodynamicsimulation results with the experimental data.Quantum Radiophysics Division, Lebedev Physics Institute. Translated from Preprint No. 179 of the Ledebev Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1989.     

Near QED regime of laser interaction with overdense plasmas

Interaction of laser plulses with intensities up to 10²⁵?W/cm² with overdense plasma targets is investigated via three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. At these intensities, radiation of electrons in the laser field becomes important. Electrons transfer a significant fraction of their energy to γ-photons and obtain strong feedbacks due to radiation reaction (RR) force. The RR effect on the distribution of laser energies among three main species: electrons, ions and photons is studied. The RR and electron-positron pair creation are implemented by a QED model. As the laser intensity inreases, the ratio of laser energy coupled to electrons drops while the one for γ-photons reaches up to 35%. Two distinctive plasma density regimes of the high-density carbon target and low-density solid hydrogen target are identified from the laser energy partitions and angular distributions of photons. The power-laws of absorption efficiency versus laser intensity and the transition of photon divergence are revealed. These show enhanced generation of γ-photon beams with improved collimation in the relativistically transparent regime. A new effect of transverse trapping of electrons inside the laser field caused by the RR force is observed: electrons can be unexpectedly confined by the intense laser field when the RR force is comparable to the Lorentz force. Finally, the RR effect and different regions of photon emission in laser-foil interactions are clarified.     

激光聚变黑腔中等离子体的热流研究

辐射流体采用限流的局域Spitzer-Harm(S-H)电子热流近似,在预估等离子体状态时可能与实验观察存在偏差.利用一维(1D3V)含碰撞的粒子模拟程序,研究了激光聚变黑腔中金等离子体的电子分布函数和电子热流.分析表明,在等离子体的冕区,α=Z(νos/νte)^2>1,电子分布函数表现为超高斯分布(m=3.34),克努森数λe/Le=0.011大于局域S-H理论的临界值2×10^-3.这导致了局域S-H电子热流远大于实际热流.这种实际热流受限现象将导致辐射流体模拟给出的冕区电子温度高于神光实验测量值.而在等离子体的高密度区域,电子分布函数仍表现为超高斯分布(m=2.93),克努森数λe/Le=7.58×10^-4小于局域S-H理论的临界值,限流的局域S-H电子热流具有一定的适用性.但电子热流严重依赖于限流因子,辐射流体模拟需要根据不同位置的光强和电子温度调整的大小.     

On possibility of measurement of the electron beam energy using absorption of radiation by electrons in magnetic field

A possibility of precise measurement of the electron beam energy using absorption of radiation by electrons in a homogeneous magnetic field for electrons of high energy in the range up to a few hundred GeV, was considered earlier. In this paper, with the purpose of experimental checking of this method in the range of several tens MeV of electrons energies, a possibility of measurement of absolute energy of the electron beam with a relative accuracy up to 10^?4, is considered. We take into account influence of the laser beam diffraction, of the spread of electrons over energies, and of the length of formation of radiation absorption in the process of electron beam energy measurement. The laser wavelength and the length of the magnet are chosen depending on the length of photon absorption formation. It is found that the kinematical restrictions on the photon absorption process lead to the selection in angles of propagation of photons, which can be absorbed by the beam electrons. It is shown that parameters of the electron beam will noticeably not vary during the measurement of the energy.     

The influence of the state of a compressed thermonuclear substance on the combustion of inertial fusion targets under direct ignition by a short radiation pulse

One-dimensional numerical calculations were performed to study the dependence of conditions for initiating thermonuclear combustion and of the target gain of direct-ignition inertial fusion targets ignited by a short radiation pulse on the initial temperature of a preliminarily compressed fuel and the initial heat energy distribution between plasma electrons and ions in the ignition region (igniter). The igniter parameters at which an effective thermonuclear target explosion with a G ～ 10³ target gain occurred were shown to substantially depend on the initial temperature of the major fuel fraction and the initial heat energy distribution between igniter electrons and ions. The heat energy of the igniter passed a minimum as the size of the igniter decreased. The dependences of these minimum energies on the temperature of the major fuel fraction at various initial energy distributions between igniter electrons and ions were determined. An increase in the temperature of the major fuel fraction was shown to decrease the target gain.     

Cyclotron mechanism of electron acceleration in subpicosecond laser plasma

The effect of ultrastrong magnetic fields generated in a relativistic-intensity subpicosecond laser plasma on the acceleration of fast electrons was studied. It is shown that resonance electrons can continuously accumulate energy from the circularly polarized laser field in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. For the linear polarization and a transverse magnetic field, energy accumulation has a pulse-periodic character, and the electron trajectories correspond to electron rotation in the Larmor orbit in a quasi-stationary magnetic field, while the energy strongly oscillates. In both cases, electron energy may attain values higher than 100 MeV for intensities of 10²⁰ W/cm².     

Monto Carlo simulation of the behaviour of electrons during electron—assisted chemical vapour deposition of diamond

The behaviour of electrons during electron-assisted chemical vapour deposition of diamond is investigated using Monte Carlo simulation. The electron energy distribution and velocity distribution are obtained over a wide range of reduced field E/N (the ratio of the electric field to gas molecule density) from 100 to 2000 in units of 1Td=10^-17Vcm². Their effects on the diamond growth are also discussed. The main results obtained are as follows. (1) The velocity profile is asymmetric for the component parallel to the field. The velocity distribution has a peak shift in the field direction. Most electrons possess non-zero velocity parallel to the substrate. (2) The number of atomic H is a function of E/N. (3) High-quality diamond can be obtained under the condition of E/N from 50 to 800Td due to sufficient atomic H and electron bombardment.     

Fast electron energy deposition in aluminium foils: Resistive vs. drag heating

The high current electron beam losses have been studied experimentally with 0.7 J, 40 fs, 6 10¹⁹ Wcm^-2 laser pulses interacting with Al foils of thicknesses 10-200 μm. The fast electron beam characteristics and the foil temperature were measured by recording the intensity of the electromagnetic emission from the foils rear side at two different wavelengths in the optical domain, ≈407 nm (the second harmonic of the laser light) and ≈500 nm. The experimentally observed fast electron distribution contains two components: one relativistic tail made of very energetic (T _h ^tail ≈ 10 MeV) and highly collimated (7° ± 3°) electrons, carrying a small amount of energy (less than 1% of the laser energy), and another, the bulk of the accelerated electrons, containing lower-energy (T _h ^bulk=500 ± 100 keV) more divergent electrons (35 ± 5°), which transports about 35% of the laser energy. The relativistic component manifests itself by the coherent 2ω₀ emission due to the modulation of the electron density in the interaction zone. The bulk component induces a strong target heating producing measurable yields of thermal emission from the foils rear side. Our data and modeling demonstrate two mechanisms of fast electron energy deposition: resistive heating due to the neutralizing return current and collisions of fast electrons with plasma electrons. The resistive mechanism is more important at shallow target depths, representing an heating rate of 100 eV per Joule of laser energy at 15 μm. Beyond that depth, because of the beam divergence, the incident current goes under 10¹² Acm^-2 and the collisional heating becomes more important than the resistive heating. The heating rate is of only 1.5 eV per Joule at 50 μm depth.     

约化场强对氮-氧混合气放电等离子体演化特性的影响

采用零维等离子体动力学模型,计算了不同约化场强条件下N₂/O₂放电等离子体的演化特性.结果表明,平均电子能量与约化场强有着近似的线性关系,在约化场强为100 Td时,平均电子能量约为2.6 eV、最大电子能量达35 eV;约化场强是影响电子能量函数分布的主要因素.气体放电过程结束后,振动激发态氮分子的粒子数浓度不再变化,电子激发态的氮分子、原子和氧原子的粒子数浓度达到一峰值后开始降低;放电结束后的氧原子通过复合反应生成臭氧.约化场强升高,由于低能电子减少的影响,振动激发态氮分子的粒子数浓度降低,当约化场强由50 Td增加75 Td,100 Td时,粒子数浓度由3.83×10¹¹ cm^-3降至1.98×10¹¹ cm^-3和1.77×10¹¹ cm^-3,其他粒子浓度则相应增大. 关键词： 等离子体 约化场强 粒子演化 数值模拟     

磁约束技术对激光诱导等离子体辐射特性的影响

为了提高激光诱导击穿光谱质量,利用Nd:YAG激光器烧蚀土壤样品,研究了磁场作用下的激光诱导等离子体辐射特性。实验结果表明,在相同激光输出能量条件下,随着磁场强度的增大,等离子体的辐射强度逐渐增强。计算可知,当采用的磁场强度为0.5T时,样品元素Al,Fe,Ba和Ti的光谱线强度比无磁场作用时的分别增强了52.35%,46.64%,64.01%和51.73%,光谱信噪比分别提高了45.44%,69.64%,40.26%和41.33%;而等离子体的电子温度和电子密度分别提高了1 355.01K和0.53×1016cm-3。可见,利用磁场约束等离子体的技术是提高激光光谱质量的一种有效方法。     

On the neutronization radius of magnetic neutron stars: The field and temperature dependences of the chemical potential and minimum number density of a degenerate magnetized electron gas

The temperature and field dependences of the chemical potential and the field dependence of the Fermi energy for a degenerate relativistic electron gas in a magnetic field have been analyzed by numerical and analytical methods. An analytical expression has been derived for the dependence of the minimum electron number density and the corresponding neutronization radius on the magnetic field strength in a collapsing star upon its subsequent transformation into a neutron one. We believe that a similar relation also holds for the equilibrium neutron star radius. Our results refine the conclusions reached previously [1] in the case of a nonzero temperature and the influence of the star??s proton component on the neutronization process as well as confirm and generalize them in terms of a significant (by an order of magnitude or severalfold) decrease in the equilibrium radius of a neutron star in a superstrong (10¹⁴?C10¹⁷ G) magnetic field compared to the case where there is no such field. We point out that there may exist a separate class of stellar objects??very small magnetar neutron stars that we propose to name ??minimagnetars??. We hypothesize that they can be the final evolutionary stage of stars before their collapse into a black hole.     

Electron spectrometry study of associative and penning ionization in laser excited sodium vapor

The first observation, by electron spectrometry, is reported in laser-excited sodium vapor of the primary low energy electrons produced by associative ionization and by Penning ionization of sodium atoms in highly excited n1 states. The sequential heating of these primary electrons has been observed in 1, 2 or 3 superelastic collisions with Na(3p) atoms. The variation of associative ionization was measured as a function of the excited state density by using inner-shell photoionization produced by synchrotron radiation. Finally, an associative ionization cross section of 3.8 X 10^-17 cm² and a Penning ionization cross section for the 5s state of 1.1 X 10^-12 cm² were found (within 50% uncertainty) for an oven temperature of 520 K.     

Control over the space-time structure of electron beams by high-intensity femtosecond laser radiation

The space-velocity distribution of electrons propagating in vacuum can be deformed by the ponderomotive potential produced by high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses, which makes it possible to subsequently separate such electrons from the initial beam. It is shown that optical modification of electron beams with kinetic energies on the order of 100 eV by femtosecond laser radiation with an intensity from 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁸ W/cm² makes it possible to form electron beams with a duration on the order of 50–100 fs. Examples of optical control over the shape of electron beams, based on deflection, reflection, focusing, and splitting of electron beams, are considered.     

Temperature measurements in plasmas generated by using lasers at different intensities

The temperature of laser-generated pulsed plasmas is an important property that depends on many parameters, such as the particle species and the time elapsed from the laser interaction with the matter and the surface characteristics.

Laser-generated plasmas with low intensity (<10¹⁰ W/cm²) at INFN-LNS of Catania and with high intensity (>10¹⁴ W/cm²) in PALS laboratory in Prague have been investigated in terms of temperatures relative to ions, electrons, and neutral species. Time-of-flight (ToF) measurements have been performed with an electrostatic ion energy analyzer (IEA) and with different Faraday cups, in order to measure the ion and electron average velocities. The IEA was also used to measure the ion energy, the ion charge state, and the ion energy distribution.

The Maxwell–Boltzmann function permitted to fit the experimental data and to extrapolate the ion temperature of the plasma core.

The velocity of the neutrals was measured with a special mass quadrupole spectrometer. The Nd:Yag laser operating at low intensity produced an ion temperature core of the order of 400 eV and a neutral temperature of the order of 100 eV for many ablated materials. The ToF of electrons indicates the presence of hot electron emission with an energy of ～1 keV.     

Non-Maxwellian Characteristics of the Energy Distribution of Thermal Electrons in the Upper Atmosphere

The Result of Measurements of the energy distribution of thermal electrons in a midlatitude ionosphere is presented. A comparison is made in particular between the characteristics at sunrise and sunset periods because of the effect of vibrationally excited nitrogen molecules. At sunrise the distribution has a little-irregularity but the middle and higher energy parts (0.2-0.5 eV) deviate from the Maxwellian distribution only slightly at all heights. The electron temperature varies from 900 K to 1300 K between 130 km and 300 km. These values are higher than the kinetic temperature of neutral particles but comparable with the theoretical values of the vibration temperature of N₂. At sunset small bumps due to non-thermal electrons are seen on the high energy tail between 108 and 160 km, their density being from 5 × 10^?3 to 1 × 10^?2 of that one of the thermal electrons. Above 170 km (F-layer) the deviation of the distribution from the Maxwellian one becomes smaller. The electron temperature varies from 500 K to 900 K between 100 km and 220 km. These values are higher than the kinetic temperature but lower than the theoretical values of the vibration temperature of N₂. A mechanism of the appearance of non-thermal electrons is considered to be due to super-elastic collisions with vibrationally excited N₂.     

超短超强激光导引及对电子加速的影响

使用粒子模拟程序对30 fs超短超强激光在均匀与抛物型两种密度分布等离子体中的传输, 以及在稳定传输状态下尾场的电子注入与加速形成的电子能谱进行了模拟与分析. 固定入射激光束斑尺寸, 在(0.4-2)×10¹⁹/cm³等离子体密度范围, 对比分析了归一化峰值强度从1-6范围的激光脉冲在上述两种密度分布等离子 体中传输时激光束斑尺寸的演化, 结果表明抛物型分布的等离子体密度通道能够对超短超强脉冲实现良好的导引, 有利于高能电子加速. 对于较高密度情况,即使在均匀等离子体中依靠相对论自聚 焦等机制也可以实现良好的自导引传输,有利于实验简化以及产生更大电量的加速电子.     

Formation of a plane layer of plasma under irradiation by a soft X-ray source

We investigate theoretically the formation of a plasma in a plane layer of polymer foam (density ρ = 0.002 g/cm³ and thickness 800 μm) under the action of an external source of soft X-ray radiation under the conditions of PHELIX experiments. The incident flux is assumed to have a Planck’s distribution over the spectrum with T _rad = 20–40 eV. In numerical calculations, the flux of incident X-ray radiation and the spectral constants of the target substance are varied. The action of an external X-ray radiation source on a low-density foam substance with a density of 2 mg/cm³ causes a plasma to be formed with relatively homogeneous profiles of density and temperature T = 15–35 eV. Absorption of externalradiation energy is distributed in the volume. The plasma temperature increases with increase in the external energy, and the energy passed through the plasma also increases. The results prove to be sensitive to the values of optical constants used in numeral simulation. The spectral flux of external radiation passed through the plasma is chosen as a criterion of correctness of the optical constants used in the calculations. In future experiments using the PHELIX facility, we plan to investigate the slowing-down of an ion beam in a plasma formed as a result of indirect heating of low-density polymer triacetate cellulose (TAC) foam with densities ρ = 0.001–0.01 g/cm³ under the action of a pulse of X-ray radiation, into which the laser radiation is preliminarily transformed.