Plasma-field structures during relativistic laser interaction with overdense plasmas at finite electron temperatures

A simple model taking into account the effect of electron temperature is derived to define the plasma-field structures which may arise during relativistically intense laser interaction with overdense plasmas. We show that there exist multilayer solutions with electron cavitation, allowing for both relativistic and ponderomotive nonlinearities. The influence of finite electron temperature on such structures is studied. Examples of these plasma-field structures for the cases of an infinite plasma and a plasma layer are presented.     

Dispersion and transport of energetic particles due to the interaction of intense laser pulses with overdense plasmas

We study the angular distribution of relativistic electrons generated through laser-plasma interaction with pulse intensity varying from 10(18) W/cm2 up to 10(21) W/cm2 and plasma density ranging from 10 times up to 160 times critical density with the help of 2D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations. This study gives clear evidence that the divergence of the beam is an intrinsic property of the interaction of a laser pulse with a sharp density gradient. It is entirely due to the excitation of large static magnetic fields in the layer of interaction. The energy deposited in this layer increases drastically the temperature of the plasma independently of the initial temperature. This makes the plasma locally collisionless and the simulation relevant for the current experiments.     

Laser-hole boring into overdense plasmas measured with soft X-Ray laser probing

A laser self-focused channel formation into overdense plasmas was observed using a soft x-ray laser probe system with a grid image refractometry (GIR) technique. 1.053 &mgr;m laser light with a 100 ps pulse duration was focused onto a preformed plasma at an intensity of 2x10(17) W/cm (2). Cross sections of the channel were obtained which show a 30 &mgr;m diameter in overdense plasmas. The channel width in the overdense region was kept narrow as a result of self-focusing. Conically diverging density ridges were also observed along the channel, indicating a Mach cone created by a shock wave due to the supersonic propagation of the channel front.     

超相对论激光和稠密等离子体作用产生阿秒脉冲的优化

利用一维粒子模拟程序研究了超相对论激光脉冲与稠密等离子体相互作用得到的阿秒脉冲.从超相对论近似的角度分析了电子运动行为和高次谐波的产生,发现当等离子体密度一定时,随着无量纲相似参数S的减小,阿秒脉冲的转换效率呈先增大后减小的趋势,因此选择适当的光强就可以得到转换效率较高的阿秒脉冲.当S一定时,随着等离子体密度的增加,阿秒脉冲转换效率有增大的趋势.这说明用适当的光强照射更稠密度的等离子体靶面,可以产生更强的阿秒脉冲.     

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.     

Radiation damping effects on the interaction of ultraintense laser pulses with an overdense plasma

A strong effect of radiation damping on the interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse with an overdense plasma slab is found and studied via a relativistic particle-in-cell simulation including ionization. Hot electrons generated by the irradiation of a laser pulse with a radiance of I lambda(2)>10(22) W microm(2)/cm(2) and duration of 20 fs can convert more than 35% of the laser energy to radiation. This incoherent x-ray emission lasts for only the pulse duration and can be intense. The radiation efficiency is shown to increase nonlinearly with laser intensity. Similar to cyclotron radiation, the radiation damping may restrain the maximal energy of relativistic electrons in ultraintense-laser-produced plasmas.     

Simulation of THz emission from laser interaction with plasmas

One-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) program is used to simulate the generation of high power terahertz (THz) emission from the interaction of an ultrashort intense laser pulse with underdense plasma. The spectra of THz radiation are discussed under different laser intensity, pulse width, incident angle and density scale length. High-amplitude electron plasma wave driven by a laser wakefield can produce powerful THz emission through linear mode conversion under certain conditions. With incident laser intensity of 10¹⁸ W/cm², the generated emission is computed to be of the order of several MV/cm field and tens of MW level power. The corresponding energy conversion efficiency is several ten thousandths, which is higher then the efficiency of other THz source and suitable for the studies of THz nonlinear physics.     

Coherent wake emission of high-order harmonics from overdense plasmas

We present a new mechanism for high-order harmonic generation by reflection of a laser beam from an overdense plasma, efficient even at moderate laser intensities (down to Igamma2 approximately 4x10(15) W cm-2 microm2). In this mechanism, a transient phase matching between the electromagnetic field and plasma oscillations within a density gradient leads to the emission of harmonics up to the plasma frequency. These plasma oscillations are periodically excited in the wake of attosecond electron bunches which sweep across the density gradient. This process leads to a train of unevenly spaced chirped attosecond pulses and, hence, to broadened and chirped harmonics. This last effect is confirmed experimentally.     

Theory of the interaction of high-power short laser pulses with plasmas

A theory of the interaction of short laser pulses with plasmas is constructed based on the previously developed kinetic theory of a tenuous plasma. The generation of fast electrons by a relativistically strong femtosecond laser pulse in a plasma with a nearly critical density is investigated. The results obtained agree with the results from particle-in-cell simulations and with the experimental data.     

强激光与等离子体相互作用产生的超强太赫兹辐射

超短强激光脉冲在等离子体中传播时会激发大振幅的等离子体尾波场，它是一种电子等离子体波．由于这是一种静电波，它一般不能转换成电磁辐射．我们发现在不均匀等离子体中激发的尾波场在一定条件下可以通过线性模式转换产生电磁辐射．由于用超短强激光脉冲尾波场可以达到的电场振幅达100GV／m，其振动频率在太赫兹（10^12Hz）附近，用这种方法可以产生电场强度达到GV／m的太赫兹辐射．     

Laser acceleration of ion bunches at the front surface of overdense plasmas

The acceleration of ions in the interaction of high intensity laser pulses with overdense plasmas is investigated with particle-in-cell simulations. For circular polarization of the laser pulses, high-density ion bunches moving into the plasma are generated at the laser-plasma interaction surface. A simple analytical model accounts for the numerical observations and provides scaling laws for the ion bunch energy and generation time as a function of pulse intensity and plasma density.     

Nonlinear interaction of an intense laser beam with millimeter sized underdense plasmas

Experimental results are reported on the nonlinear interaction of a 0.5 μm laser light with long scalelength preformed plasmas. Spectra from stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering, as well as measurements of the transmitted laser light clearly indicate the occurence of strong nonlinearities driven by filamentation of the laser beam.     

Subpicosecond pulse laser absorption by an overdense plasma with variable ionization

Transient ionization of an overdense plasma produced by a subpicosecond, p-polarized obliquely incident pulse laser of moderate intensity (10(16)-10(18) W/cm(2)) changes the plasma heat transfer via processes dominated by the return current and the absorption rate via ion acceleration. To explore the effect of variable ionization, a hybrid one-dimensional electro-magnetic particle-in-cell method that conforms to a direct solution of the Fokker-Planck-Landau equation is applied. A method that includes the Langevin equation to account for Coulomb collisions and the average ion model to calculate the nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium ionization balance provides good agreement between the computed absorption and the measured results.     

交叉传播激光脉冲与等离子体相互作用产生的等离子体密度光栅

理论上研究了两束交叉传播的激光束与等离子体相互作用产生的电子和离子密度调制. 用一维粒子模拟程序(particle-in-cell,PIC)研究了两束激光脉冲产生的干涉场激发的等离子体布拉格光栅. 研究表明等离子体初始密度、脉冲强度和宽度共同影响等离子体布拉格光栅的演化. 光栅的密度峰值可以达到初始等离子体密度的8倍以上,并且可以维持几皮秒的时间. 等离子体布拉格光栅可以囚禁由受激拉曼散射形成的电磁孤子,从而形成准稳态的孤子结构,很大程度上降低了形成电磁孤子所要求的激光脉冲强度. 关键词： 等离子体布拉格光栅 电磁孤子 交叉传播激光束 粒子模拟     

The vacuum energy of QED with four-fermion interaction

We consider quantum electrodynamics in the quenched approximation including a four-fermion interaction with coupling constantg. The effective potential at stationary points is computed as a function of the coupling constants α andg and an ultraviolet cutoff Λ, showing a minimum of energy in the (α,g) plane for α=α _c =π/3 andg=∞. When we go to the continuum limit (Λ→∞), keeping finite the dynamical mass, the minimum of energy moves to (α=0,g=1), which correspond to a point where the theory is trivial.     

Absorption of ultrashort laser pulses in strongly overdense targets

Absorption measurements on solid conducting targets have been performed in s and p polarization with ultrashort, high-contrast Ti:sapphire laser pulses at intensities up to 5x10{16}W/cm{2} and pulse duration of 8 fs. The particular relevance of the reported absorption measurements lies in the fact that the extremely short laser pulse interacts with matter close to solid density during the entire pulse duration. A pronounced increase of absorption for p polarization at increasing angles is observed reaching 77% for an incidence angle of 80 degrees . Simulations performed using a 2D particle in cell code show a very good agreement with the experimental data for a plasma profile of L/lambda approximately 0.01.