Bright multi-keV harmonic generation from relativistically oscillating plasma surfaces

The first evidence of x-ray harmonic radiation extending to 3.3 A, 3.8 keV (order n>3200) from petawatt class laser-solid interactions is presented, exhibiting relativistic limit efficiency scaling (eta approximately n{-2.5}-n{-3}) at multi-keV energies. This scaling holds up to a maximum order, n{RO} approximately 8{1/2}gamma;{3}, where gamma is the relativistic Lorentz factor, above which the first evidence of an intensity dependent efficiency rollover is observed. The coherent nature of the generated harmonics is demonstrated by the highly directional beamed emission, which for photon energy hnu>1 keV is found to be into a cone angle approximately 4 degrees , significantly less than that of the incident laser cone (20 degrees ).     

相对论圆偏振激光与固体靶作用产生高次谐波

超短超强激光与固体靶表面等离子体相互作用可以通过高次谐波的方式产生从极紫外到软X射线波段的相干辐射,获得飞秒甚至阿秒量级的超短脉冲,可用于观测原子或分子中的电子运动等超快动力学过程.本文实验研究了相对论圆偏振飞秒激光与固体靶相互作用的高次谐波产生过程,实验结果表明,在较大入射角下,圆偏振激光也可以有效地产生高次谐波辐射.通过预脉冲控制靶表面的预等离子体密度标长,发现高次谐波的产生效率随密度标长的增加而单调下降.进一步通过二维粒子模拟程序,分析了激光的偏振以及预等离子体密度标长对高次谐波产生的影响,很好地解释了实验观测结果.     

Ultrashort relativistically strong solitons in plasma

An equation that describes a reflectionless propagation of non-one-dimensional relativistically strong wave packets in plasma has been studied. A family of three-dimensional solitons is found and their stability is analytically justified. The dynamics of soliton formation and their interactions have been numerically simulated.     

Generation of high order optical harmonics from solid surfaces

Received: 26 November 1998     

Localization of intense electromagnetic waves in a relativistically hot plasma

We consider nonlinear interactions between intense short electromagnetic waves (EMWs) and a relativistically hot electron plasma that supports relativistic electron holes (REHs). It is shown that such EMW-REH interactions are governed by a coupled nonlinear system of equations composed of a nonlinear Schro dinger equation describing the dynamics of the EMWs and the Poisson-relativistic Vlasov system describing the dynamics of driven REHs. The present nonlinear system of equations admits both a linearly trapped discrete number of eigenmodes of the EMWs in a quasistationary REH and a modification of the REH by large-amplitude trapped EMWs. Computer simulations of the relativistic Vlasov and Maxwell-Poisson system of equations show complex interactions between REHs loaded with localized EMWs.     

Nonlinear evolution of a relativistically strong electromagnetic wave in self-created electron-positron plasma

The nonlinear interaction between the electron-positron pairs produced by an electromagnetic wave in plasma and the wave leads to damping of the wave, frequency upshift, change of polarization, and particle acceleration. The case of a circularly polarized wave is investigated in the framework of the relativistic Vlasov equation with a source term based on the Schwinger formula for the pair creation rate.     

Interaction of relativistically strong electromagnetic waves with a layer of overdense plasma

Plasma-field structures that arise under the interaction between a relativistically strong electromagnetic wave and a layer of overdense plasma are considered within a quasistationary approximation. It is shown that, together with known solutions, which are nonlinear generalizations of skin-layer solutions, multilayer structures containing cavitation regions with completely removed electrons (ion layers) can be excited when the amplitude of the incident field exceeds a certain threshold value. Under symmetric irradiation, these cavitation regions, which play the role of self-consistent resonators, may amplify the field and accumulate electromagnetic energy.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy of RF oscillating surfaces

Amplitude and phase of high frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) fields are investigated by a novel scanning tunneling microscopy technique. The gap voltage is modulated at a slightly detuned high frequency. Due to the nonlinearity of the tunneling process a frequency mixing appears. For scanned areas with dimensions much smaller than the wavelength of the SAW a remarkable local variation of amplitude and phase of the tunneling current at the difference frequency is observed. Depending on the local morphology different components of the particle displacement vector are detected. Model calculations of amplitude and phase images are presented for a real topography.     

Nonlinear propagation of relativistically intense electromagnetic waves in a collisionless plasma

We discuss the nonlinear propagation of relativistically intense electromagnetic waves into collisionless plasmas with special emphasis on one dimensional plane wave solutions of the propagating, standing and modulated types. These solutions exhibit a rich variety of phenomena associated with relativistic electron mass variation and coupling between transverse electromagnetic and longitudinal fields. They have important applications to problems of laser propagation, self-focusing in overdense plasmas, particle and photon acceleration and to electromagnetic radiation around pulsars.     

The output of a quartz transducer oscillating in its fundamental and higher harmonics

The output from a quartz crystal oscillating in three liquids, at its fundamental, 3rd harmonic and 5th harmonic have been measured by the calorimetric method keeping the crystal amplitude the same. The output is found to be much less than that one can expect from theoretical considerations.     

Temporal coherence of high-order harmonics generated at solid surfaces

We present interferometric measurements of the temporal coherence of high-order harmonics generated by reflection of a titanium sapphire laser off a solid surface. It is found that the coherence length of the harmonic emission is significantly reduced compared with the bandwidth limited case. To identify the responsible mechanism, the acquired data were analyzed by means of particle-in-cell simulations, whose results show good agreement between the calculated spectra and the measured coherence times. We show that the observed broadening can be understood consistently by the occurrence of a Doppler shift induced by the moving plasma surface, which is dented by the radiation pressure of the laser pulse. In this case, this Doppler effect would also lead to positive chirp of the emitted radiation.     

Motions of particles in an oscillating plasma

An alternative consideration of oscillations and waves in plasma is suggested based on equations for small deflections of particles from their equilibrium trajectories instead of equations for perturbations of distribution functions and fields, so that average values are calculated with equilibrium distribution functions. Instead of the Maxwell equations for an electromagnetic field their solutions in the Lienard-Wiechert form are used. All the known results of the linear kinetic theory of plasma oscillations are shown to be derivable in this way, and small correlations for dispersion relations of the first order in the plasma parameter due to the Debye screening have been obtained. A simplified consideration of a rarefield plasma in a strong magnetic field is given showing a non-cyclotron character of the motion of the particles. Such a combination of statistical and dynamical approaches may be useful in many problems of plasma physics.     

激光驱动高亮度电子束源

采用激光驱动光阴级和１００ｋＶ直流加速间隙可产生宽度为５０～１００ｐｓ的高亮度脉冲电子束．该装置主要由光阴极制备室和直流加速间隙组成．可以用化学气相沉积、离子注入和离子束增强沉积等方法制备光阴极．通过用ＥＧＵＮ和ＰＯＩＳＳＯＮ程序模拟,给出了直流加速间隙的物理设计．光源采用一台主被动双锁的Ｎｄ:ＹＡＧ激光器,可工作在１０６４、５３２和２６６ｎｍ三个波长,重复频率为１０Ｈｚ．此外,也论述了光阴极制备室与超与腔结合的超导高亮度注入器的有关问题. A DC high brigytness laser driven by photoemissive electron gun is being developed at Peking University,in order to produce 50～100ps electron bunches of high quality.The gun consists of a photocathode preparation chamber and a DC acceleration cavity.Different ways of fabricating photocathode,such as chemical vapor deposition,ion beam implantation and ion beam enhanced deposition,can be adopted.The acceleration gap is designed with the aid of simulation codes EGUN and POISSON,100kV DC high voltage is...     

New regime of anomalous penetration of relativistically strong laser radiation into an overdense plasma

It is shown that penetration of relativistically intense laser light into an overdense plasma, accessible by self-induced transparency, occurs over a finite length only. The penetration length depends crucially on the overdense plasma parameter and increases with increasing incident intensity after exceeding the threshold for self-induced transparency. Exact analytical solutions describing the plasma-field distributions are presented.     

Cavitation damage on metallic plate surfaces oscillating at 20 kHz

Plates of aluminium (UNI 4507) of about 2.55 cm2 and 1.0 mm thick, of different shapes, vibrating in a liquid at a frequency of about 20 kHz and subjected to strong cavitation damage on their central parts exhibit, on the zone near the edge, a reduction of cavitative effect up to inhibition. We named this phenomenon, the "border effect". Evidence is reported which demonstrates that the border effect, depending on the plate velocity, is related to the angle between the plate surface and its direction displacement, that is to the value of the component of the liquid velocity tangent to the plate.     

Generation of harmonics and chaos in the dynamics of anharmonic surfaces

Effective equations of motion of a surface atom placed in an anharmonic surface potential are derived for three kinds of substrates (i) continuous dispersionless, (ii) discrete with nearest neighbours harmonic interactions, and (iii) a substrate showing a strong spatial dispersion. The resulting equations of motion are differential equations in the case (i) and Volterra Integro-Differential Equations (VIDE) in the cases (ii) and (iii). Examples of non-linear surface response to phonons coming from the bulk are given for the dispersionless substrate.     

激光场中H原子高次谐波

建立了激光与原子相互作用的伪分立态模型 ,并用此模型计算了激光场中H原子的高次谐波 ,得到了与实验和其它理论计算相符的结果