Features of the generation of a collisionless electrostatic shock wave in a laser-ablation plasma

The appearance of a density bump is experimentally revealed in an electrostatic shock wave during the ablation of an aluminum foil by a femtosecond laser pulse. The numerical simulation shows that this phenomenon can be explained by the generation of a packet of ion acoustic waves under the action of high-energy electron flows in a collisionless plasma. It is found that, for the formation and maintenance of the dense plasma layer in the shock wave, the contributions of accelerated ions overtaking it and wave-captured ions of the background plasma formed by a nanosecond laser prepulse in the process of ablation are significant.     

Observation of stable,high-mach-number electrostatic shocks in a collisionless plasma

Observation of stable, large amplitude ion acoustic shocks with a high Mach number M> 1.6 in a collisionless plasma is described. Discussions about the nature and behavior of the waves are also given.     

On the shock induced instabilities in collisionless plasma

Firehose, mirror and ion-acoustic instabilities behind MHD shock waves are discussed for collisionless anisotropic plasma with heat fluxes. For the parallel shock wave it has been demonstrated that initially stable plasma can be destabilized by the shock which leads to turbulence generation in the downstream flow. Upstream parameter domains are determined where such destabilization occurs.     

Observation of collisionless plasma heating by strong shock waves

The heating of a plasma by collisionless shock waves is investigated by measuring the variation of magnetic field (with magnetic probes), density and electron temperature (from Thomson scattering of laser light) in the shock waves. The compression waves are produced in a tube of 14 cm diameter by the fast rising magnetic field (12 kG in 0.5Μsec) of a theta pinch. For shocks with Mach numbers between 2 and 3 propagating into a hydrogen or deuterium plasma with a localΒ of about 1 (Β=ratio of particle pressure to magnetic pressure) the measured jump in density and magnetic field across the front is 2 to 4, and the electron temperature increases in the front from 3 to 50 eV with a further rise to between 100 and 250 eV in the piston region. Only about 20% of the measured electron heating can be explained by adiabatic heating and resistive heating based on binary collisions, indicating a high turbulent plasma resistance. Both the observed electron heating and the width of the shock front, which is about 0.6 ·c/Ω _p, can be accounted for using an effective collision frequency close to the ion plasma frequencyΩ _p. The ion heating in the almost stationary shock fronts can be inferred indirectly from the steady state conservation relations. For shock waves with Mach numbersM<M _crit it seems to be consistent with an adiabatic heating process, whereas forM>M _crit the calculated ion temperatures exceed those one would except for a merely adiabatic heating.     

Generation of harmonics of intense laser radiation in a transparent collisionless plasma

The spectral composition of a relativistically strong uniform nonlinear electromagnetic wave in a transparent collisionless plasma is analyzed. The vortex and potential components of the wave field are shown to contain only odd and even harmonics, respectively; in a transparent plasma, the wave remains quasi-monochromatic, since the intensities of the harmonics decrease exponentially with increasing harmonic number. An equation that includes diffraction effects is derived to describe the propagation of wavepackets. The results obtained are compared with experimental data.     

Propagation of electrostatic energy through a quantum plasma

The theory of propagation of electrostatic energy through an infinite, homogeneous electron–ion quantum plasma is presented. Simple expressions for the energy flow, energy density, and energy velocity of longitudinal oscillation waves in the system are derived using the linearized quantum hydrodynamic theory for the electron fluid, which incorporates the important quantum statistical pressure and electron diffraction force, while the optical response of the ion particles is characterized by the classical frequency‐dependent dielectric function, ?_ion. Both cases of plasmon (high‐frequency) and quantum ion‐acoustic (low‐frequency) waves are considered.     

On the parallel shock waves in collisionless plasma with heat fluxes

A class of shock wave solutions is discussed for collisionless anisotropic plasma with heat fluxes. For the strictly parallel one-dimensional motions of a plasma the system of equations is written in divergent form and both linear and shock wave solutions are considered. Jump expressions for the parallel shocks are obtained in analytical form as functions of the shock upstream parameters.     

Relaxation of heavy ions in collisionless shock waves in cosmic plasma

We report on the results of hybrid particle-in-cell simulation of shock waves (SWs) in the cosmic plasma with admixture of heavy weakly charged ions. The dependence of ion relaxation and the SW structure on the angle between the magnetic field and the normal to the wavefront is analyzed. The conditions for invariability of the anisotropic ion velocity distribution behind the front of quasi-transverse SWs are indicated on scales substantially exceeding the width of the collisionless SW front (up to the Coulomb relaxation length). The obtained results are essential for determining the effectiveness of heating of heavy ions and observation diagnostic of collisionless SWs in the cosmic plasma.     

Exact solution of the problem of quasineutral expansion into vacuum of a localized collisionless plasma with cold ions

An analytical solution of the Vlasov equation for the electrons and the hydrodynamic equations for the ions in a self-consistent electric field is constructed in the quasineutral approximation. This solution is valid for a finite electron-to-ion mass ratio. It permits describing the expansion into vacuum of a collisionless plasma with cold ions and arbitrary initial electron velocity distribution, forming a plasmoid that is bounded and, in the general case, spherically asymmetric in space. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 8, 543–547 (25 April 1998)     

Small oscillations of a collisionless quark plasma

The oscillations of a collisionless quark plasma are studied on the basis of the gauge covariant kinetic equations. The small oscillation approach provides the dispersion relations which coincide with those predicted by the finite-temperature QCD in one-loop approximation.     

Kinetics of the collisionless expansion of spherical nanoplasmas

The collisionless expansion of spherical plasmas composed of cold ions and hot electrons is analyzed using a novel kinetic model, with special emphasis on the influence of the electron dynamics. Simple, general laws are found, relating the relevant expansion features to the initial conditions of the plasma, determined from a single dimensionless parameter. A transition is identified in the behavior of the ion energy spectrum, which is monotonic only for high electron temperatures, otherwise exhibiting a local peak far from the cutoff energy.     

Generation and expansion of laser-induced plasma as a spectroscopic emission source

Laser-induced plasma represents today a widespread spectroscopic emission source. It can be easily generated using compact and reliable nanosecond pulsed laser on a large variety of materials. Its application for spectrochemical analysis for example with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has become so popular that one tends to forget the complex physical and chemical processes leading to its generation and governing its evolution. The purpose of this review article is to summarize the backgrounds necessary to understand and describe the laser-induced plasma from its generation to its expansion into the ambient gas. The objective is not to go into the details of each process; there are numerous specialized papers and books for that in the literature. The goal here is to gather in a same paper the essential understanding elements needed to describe laser-induced plasma as results from a complex process. These elements can be dispersed in several related but independent fields such as laser-matter interaction, laser ablation of material, optical and thermodynamic properties of hot and ionized gas, or plasma propagation in a background gas. We believe that presenting the ensemble of understanding elements of laser-induced plasma in a comprehensive way and in limited pages of this paper will be helpful for further development and optimized use of the LIBS technique. Experimental results obtained in our laboratory are used to illustrate the studied physical processes each time such illustration becomes possible and helpful.     

Hydrodynamics of a dense plasma created during laser annealing pulses

We show that an electron-hole plasma with density well above the droplet one (≈ 10¹⁸ cm^?3 in Si) expands very fast. Adding Auger recombination and phonon collisions, the maximum density for typical laser annealing pulses is found to be at most a few times 10²⁰ cm^?3. As a plasma density of a few times 10²¹ cm^?3 is necessary to modify the stability of the solid, we conclude that the laser pulse has essentially a thermal effect.     

Generation of strong Langmuir fields during optical breakdown of a dense gas

Results are presented from theoretical studies and computer simulations of the resonant excitation of Langmuir waves during the ionization of a homogeneous gas by high-intensity laser radiation. Two mechanisms for the formation of nonuniform resonant structures in the discharge are examined: plasma-resonance ionization instability, resulting in the density modulation along the electric field vector, and gas breakdown in the field of a transversely inhomogeneous laser beam (a Bessel beam produced by an axicon lens). In both cases, the transition of the plasma density through the critical value is accompanied by the generation of intense Langmuir waves, the formation of fast ionization fronts, and the appearance of long-lived quasi-turbulent states.     

Ion-acoustic shock waves and their head-on collision in a dense electron-positron-ion quantum plasma

Ion-acoustic shock waves and their head-on collision in a dense quantum plasma comprised of electrons, positrons, and ions are studied. The extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo perturbation method is used to derive the Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers equations for shock waves in this plasma. The dissipation is introduced by taking into account the kinematic viscosity among the plasma constituents. The effects of the ratio of positrons to ions unperturbation number density μ, the normalized kinematic viscosity ηi0, and the quantum Bohm potential H on the interaction and structure of the shock waves are investigated. It is found that there are integrally vertical downward movements for both the colliding shocks after their head-on collision, but there are no shifts of the postcollision trajectories (phase shifts). It is also found that these plasma parameters can significantly influence the collision and properties of the colliding shocks. The results may have relevance in dense astrophysical plasmas (such as neutron stars or white dwarfs) as well as in intense laser-solid density plasma experiments.     

Structure of a collisionless shock front with relativistically accelerated particles

A nonlinear self-consistent analytic theory is developed to describe the front structure of a strong magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) collisionless shock wave that generates accelerated particles (including ultrarelativistic particles). The theory is used to predict the degree of compression of matter at the plane front of such a wave, which can greatly exceed compression at an ordinary gas-dynamic front, and also the velocity, density, and pressure profiles. The energy spectrum of the accelerated particles, which is produced by the complex velocity profile at the shock transition, is determined self-consistently. New nonlinear effects are predicted that have not been discussed previously in the literature: a strong dependence of the particle acceleration regimes on the rate of injection; the existence of several regimes within a certain range of injected powers with differing spectra of accelerated particles, shapes of the shock transition profile, and magnitudes of compression of the medium; and the possibility of spontaneous jumps between different states of the shock transition. The question of stability of these states is discussed. For the values of the system parameters used here, the nonlinear regimes correspond to extremely low injection rates, of order 10⁻²–10⁻¹⁰ of the plasma flux density advancing into the front, and to exponents of the power-law spectra of accelerated particles between 5 and 3. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1584–1602 (November 1997)     

Particle dynamics during adiabatic expansion of a plasma bunch

The renormalization-group approach is used to obtain an exact solution to the self-consistent Vlasov kinetic equations for plasma particles in the quasi-neutral approximation. This solution describes the one-dimensional adiabatic expansion of a plasma bunch into a vacuum for arbitrary initial particle velocity distributions. Ion acceleration is studied for two-temperature Maxwellian and super-Gaussian initial electron distributions, which predetermine distinctly different ion spectra. The solution found is used to describe the acceleration of ions of two types. The relative acceleration efficiency of light and heavy ions as a function of atomic weights and number densities is analyzed. The solutions obtained are of practical importance in describing ion acceleration during the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse with nanoplasma, for example, cluster plasma or plasma produced when thin foils are irradiated by a laser.     

Thermodynamics of a dense plasma

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy -