Theoretical study of armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes in the presence of a strong laser field: high harmonic generation

The nonlinear optical response of armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes under high-intensity laser irradiation is investigated theoretically and numerically because the generation of high harmonics requires a strong laser field and come from the nonlinear motion of π electrons in carbon nanotubes. A nonperturbative approach is performed to investigate the effect of group velocity on the high harmonics spectrum by nanotubes. A set of the quantum kinetic equations is derived, which includes coupled equations for the density matrix. By solving the density matrix and the current density equations numerically, we have studied the high-order harmonic generation from metallic carbon nanotubes driven by an electromagnetic external field.     

Generation of harmonics during the interaction of ultrashort superstrong laser pulses with solid targets

Generation of even and odd harmonics in the skin layer formed during the interaction of a short relativistic laser pulse with solid targets is considered. The complex motion of free electrons in the skin layer along the electric field vector and along the direction of propagation of a laser wave is analyzed. The Fourier expansion of the trajectory of this motion is used to obtain the components of the conductivity tensor and of the amplitude of the transverse electromagnetic field of harmonics propagating along the electric field. Even harmonics appear due to relativistic effects. The efficiency of generation of even and odd harmonics at the leading front of a laser pulse is calculated.     

Mechanisms for second harmonic generation in the interaction of a superintense ultrashort laser pulse with cluster plasma

The effects of the interaction of an intense femtosecond laser pulse with large atomic clusters are considered. The pulse intensity is of the order of 10¹⁸ W cm^?2. New effects appear when the magnetic component of the Lorentz force is taken into account. The second harmonic of laser radiation is generated. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency is proportional to the square of the number of atoms in a cluster and the square of the laser radiation intensity. The resonance increase in the SHG efficiency at the Mie frequencies (both at the second harmonic frequency and fundamental frequency) proved to be insignificant because of the fast passage through the resonance during cluster expansion. The mechanisms of the expansion and accumulation of energy by electrons and ions in the cluster are discussed in detail. The energy accumulation by electrons mainly occurs due to stimulated inverse bremsstrahlung upon elastic reflection of the electrons from the cluster surface. The equations describing the cluster expansion take into account both the hydrodynamic pressure of heated electrons and the Coulomb explosion of the ionized cluster caused by outer shell ionization. It is assumed that both inner shell and outer shell ionization is described by the over barrier mechanism. It is shown that atomic clusters are more attractive for the generation of even harmonics than compared to solid and gas targets.     

Dynamics simulation on interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters

Under classical particle dynamics, the interaction process between intense femtosecond laser pulses and icosahedral noble-gas atomic clusters was studied. Our calculated results show that ionization proceeds mainly through tunnel ionization in the combined field from ions, electrons and laser, rather than the electron-impact ionization. With increasing cluster size, the average and maximum kinetic energy of the product ion increases. According to our calculation, the expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation is dominated by Coulomb explosion and the expansion scale increases with increasing cluster size. The dependence of average kinetic energy and average charge state of the product ions on laser wavelength is also presented and discussed. The dependence of average kinetic energy on the number of atoms inside the cluster was studied and compared with the experimental data. Our results agree with the experimental results reasonably well.     

Generation of electromagnetic waves in the terahertz frequency range by optical rectification of a Gaussian laser pulse in a plasma in presence of an externally applied static electric field

We propose a theoretical model for the generation of electromagnetic waves in the terahertz (THz) frequency range by the optical rectification of a Gaussian laser pulse in a plasma with an applied static electric field transverse to the direction of propagation. A Gaussian laser pulse can exert a transverse component of the quasi‐static ponderomotive force on the electrons at a frequency in the THz range by a suitable choice of the laser pulse width. This nonlinear force is responsible for the density oscillation. The coupling of this oscillation with the drift velocity acquired by electrons due to the applied static electric field leads to the generation of a nonlinear current density. A spatial Gaussian intensity profile of the laser beam enhances the generated THz yield by many folds as compared to a uniform spatial intensity profile.     

Formation and dynamics of a plasma in superstrong laser fields including radiative and quantum electrodynamics effects

Studies of phenomena accompanying the interaction of superstrong electromagnetic fields with matter, in particular, the generation of an electron–positron plasma, acceleration of electrons and ions, and the generation of hard electromagnetic radiation are briefly reviewed. The possibility of using thin films to initiate quantum electrodynamics cascades in the field of converging laser pulses is analyzed. A model is developed to describe the formation of a plasma cavity behind a laser pulse in the transversely inhomogeneous plasma and the generation of betatron radiation by electrons accelerated in this cavity. Features of the generation of gamma radiation, as well as the effect of quantum electrodynamics effects on the acceleration of ions, at the interaction of intense laser pulses with solid targets are studied.     

Harmonics generation in ultra-thin nanofilms irradiated by intense nonrelativistic laser pulses

The problem of harmonics generation in nanotargets is considered at the range of parameters (a nanotarget diameter and a pump laser intensity) when the oscillation amplitude of an electron in a target is much larger than the target width. Electron motion in charged nanotargets in the presence of a laser field of different (non-relativistic) strength is considered. It is demonstarted that for lasers of infrared frequencies clusters do not possess strong enough potential to bound electrons with large oscillation amplitudes. Opposite to clusters, nanofilms were found to be very perspective targets in the problem considered. A simple analytic model and molecular dynamic simulations showed increased harmonics generation when the oscillation amplitude of electrons in a film becomes much larger, than the film width. Different regimes of generation are briefly discussed.     

Hard X-ray emission by clusters in an intense femtosecond laser field during collective recombination

We consider the new mechanism of X-ray generation by clusters under irradiation by femtosecond laser pulses, the so-called collective photorecombination. We develop the theory of the photo-recombination of electrons that pass from atomic clusters at the outer ionization to the ground level of a homogeneously charged cluster. Such a cluster is considered to be a quantum potential well. The dipole approximation is inapplicable for this process. We conclude that X-ray photons in collective photorecombination on a charged cluster as a whole have an energy that is much larger than that for photorecombination on separate atomic ions inside the cluster. For a typical cluster of 2.25 × 10⁶ electrons, with a radius R = 300 Å, and a number density of plasma electrons n _e = 2 × 10²² cm^?3, we find that at a 5% outer ionization of this cluster, the energy of hard X-ray photons is 7.2 keV.     

Charge composition of a cluster plasma upon irradiation of large atomic clusters by the field of a superatomic femtosecond laser pulse

A theory is developed for calculating the charge composition of a cluster plasma produced upon irradiation of large atomic clusters by the field of a superatomic femtosecond laser pulse. The theory is based on the overbarrier process of a successive multiple internal ionization of atomic ions inside a cluster accompanied by the external field ionization. Collision ionization is also taken into account in the calculations. The theory is illustrated by the example of a cluster consisting of 10⁶ xenon atoms irradiated by a 50-fs laser pulse with a peak intensity of 2×10¹⁸ W/cm². In this case, the Xe²⁶⁺ ions dominate. The amounts of atomic xenon ions with multiplicity up to 31 are calculated.     

X-ray amplification by laser controlled coherent bremsstrahlung

A coherent x-ray generation scheme is proposed which involves characteristics of free electron lasers and atomic high harmonic generation schemes. A thin solid layer or any other periodic atomic structure with limited dimensions is exposed to a short, superintense laser pulse. The electrons are extracted from the layer due to the extreme force and penetrate periodically through the ionic structure. Consequently, thousands of harmonics of the laser radiation field are shown to coherently amplify along the interaction length. The small signal gain of the generated x-ray radiation exceeds that arising from the multiphoton Compton process in plasmas and is competitive with that in the leading x-ray free electron lasers.     

Rescattering of electrons at laser-cluster interactions

The goal of this work is to derive the angular distributions of electrons irradiated at the outer ionization of large atomic clusters from Xe atoms by relativistic laser pulses taking into account rescattering processes. Both the magnetic field of the laser pulse and the Coulomb field of the ionized cluster significantly influence the rescattering of ejected electrons. The multiply inner ionization of atoms occurs at the leading edge of the laser pulse. The atomic ions with charge multiplicities up to Z = 26 are subsequently produced (each atomic ion with the next charge multiplicity appears in 3–5 fs) when the laser intensity increases. The measurements of the angular distributions of electrons allow us to reproduce the imaging dynamics of outer ionization of the cluster at the leading edge of the relativistic femtosecond laser pulse.     

Spontaneous emission of atoms in a strong laser field

The spontaneous emission of an atomic system in the field of a high-intensity femtosecond laser pulse is considered within the framework of a consistent quantum-mechanical approach based on an examination of the interaction of a quantum system with a set of quantized field modes in a vacuum state. Both even and odd harmonics of the driving field are shown to appear in the atomic emission spectrum, and the mechanisms of their generation are elucidated. A comparison with the semiclassical theory of laser harmonic generation is made. The semiclassical approach in describing the spontaneous emission in strong laser fields, especially under conditions of significant depletion of the ground (initial) state in a laser field, is shown to be limited.     

Recombination processes in atomic clusters irradiated by superintense femtosecond laser pulses

Various mechanisms of recombination of electrons with multiply charged atomic ions in atomic clusters irradiated by superintense femtosecond laser pulses are discussed. All of the recombination mechanisms are shown to take a time considerably longer than the laser pulse duration and, hence, they can develop only in a homogeneous, fairly rarefied cluster plasma after pulse termination. All autoionization states of multiply charged ions in a dense cluster plasma have been found to be destroyed by the Holtsmark electric field.     

团簇在超强超短脉冲激光场中的演化

 利用低温脉冲气阀产生氘团簇束,在SILEX-Ⅰ激光装置上开展实验,研究氘团簇在超强超短脉冲激光场中的演化过程,获得了数十keV的高能氘离子,这些氘离子的能谱分布与库仑爆炸模型计算结果一致。实验结果表明,在一定的激光功率密度条件下,团簇的平均尺度决定了释放出高能离子的能谱分布。激光辐照团簇后,通过阈上电离部分电子逃逸团簇,随着初始电离电子屏蔽作用加强,碰撞电离变成了团簇的主要电离机制。     

Instability of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Harmonic Waves in Plasmas

The stability of electromagnetic ion cyclotron harmonic waves propagating normal to an external magnetic field is studied for plasmas whose ions possess loss cone type velocity distributions. It is found that, if the ions are stationary, no instability develops except in the extreme case when the ratio of parallel to perpendicular "temperatures" of the ions is of the order mi/me, where mi and me are the ion and electron masses respectively. However, for the case of two counterstreaming ion beams in a neutralizing background of electrons, instability at zero frequency and near the first several ion cyclotron harmonics can occur if the streaming velocity is of the order of the electron thermal speed.     

Quantum kinetic theory of confined electrons in a strong time dependent field

A gauge-invariant Green’s function approach to the quantum transport of spatially confined electrons in strong electromagnetic fields is presented. The theory includes mean field and exchange effects, as well as collisions and initial correlations. It allows for a self-consistent treatment of spectral properties and collective effects (plasmons), on one hand, and nonlinear field phenomena, such as harmonic generation and multiphoton absorption, on the other. It is equally applicable to electrons in quantum dots, ultracold ions in traps and valence electrons of metal clusters.     

Electromagnetic fluctuations during fast reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Experimental evidence for a positive correlation is established between the magnitude of electromagnetic fluctuations up to the lower-hybrid frequency range and enhancement of reconnection rates in a well-controlled laboratory plasma. The fluctuations belong to the right-hand polarized whistler wave branch, propagating obliquely to the reconnecting magnetic field, with a phase velocity comparable to the relative drift velocity between electrons and ions. The measured short coherence lengths indicate their strongly nonlinear nature.     

Interaction of intense laser pulses with hydrogen atomic clusters

The interaction between intense femtosecond laser pulses and hydrogen atomic clusters is studied by a simplified Coulomb explosion model. The dependences of average proton kinetic energy on cluster size, pulse duration, laser intensity and wavelength are studied respectively. The calculated results indicate that the irradiation of a femtosecond laser of longer wavelength on hydrogen atomic clusters may be a simple, economical way to produce highly kinetic hydrogen ions. The phenomenon suggests that the irradiation of femtosecond laser of longer wavelength on deuterium atomic clusters may be easier than that of shorter wavelength to drive nuclear fusion reactions. The product of the laser intensity and the squared laser wavelength needed to make proton energy saturated as a function of the squared cluster radius is also investigated. The proton energy distribution calculated is also shown and compared with the experimental data. Our results are in agreement with the experimental results fairly well.     

Generation of XUV attosecond pulses in the process of atomic ionization by few-cycle laser radiation

Ionization of a model two-electron atom in the presence of a strong field of ultrashort laser pulses is investigated using the numerical integration of the nonstationary Schrödinger equation, which describes the dynamics of a quantum system in the presence of an electromagnetic wave. The features of two-electron ionization in the presence of one-and two-cycle pulses are analyzed. The suppression of double ionization in the presence of ultrashort laser pulses related to a finite-time interelectron energy exchange upon the laser action is demonstrated. The features of the generation of high-order harmonics and single XUV attosecond pulses are studied for the atomic ionization by few-cycle laser pulses. The parameters of the laser pulse are optimized for the effective generation of a single XUV attosecond pulse.     

超短强激光脉冲激励甲烷团簇的内电离机理

采用三维粒子动力学模拟方法研究了甲烷团簇在超短强激光脉冲激励下的爆炸动力学行为,重点讨论了几种典型的内电离机理对团簇爆炸过程中离子的价态和动能的影响.研究表明,在激光脉冲强度比较小的情况下,团簇中的原子主要是在光场作用下通过隧道电离的方式发生电离.当激光场进一步增强时,势垒压低电离是电离的主要方式.在相同的较高激光强度下,团簇更容易通过势垒压低电离达到高的电离价态.团簇发生电离后,其内部库仑电场的点火电离效应和内部滞留自由电子的碰撞电离效应也将增强团簇的再次电离过程. 关键词： 超短强激光脉冲 甲烷团簇 内电离