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.     

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.     

用于Z-pinch诊断的266nm激光探针分幅阴影成像系统

采用Nd-YAG激光器的四倍频激光(266nm)设计了激光探针分幅阴影成像系统，该系统具有时间分辨率和收光效率高，测量范围大，可有效屏蔽可见光干扰的优点，在钨丝阵实验中成功获得晚期内爆等离子体的分布图像.对系统结构和性能参数做了介绍，对测量结果进行了讨论. 关键词： Z-pinch 激光探针 等离子体分布 分幅成像     

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.     

High-resolution spatial characterization of laser produced plasmas at soft x-ray wavelengths

In this article, we describe the setup and application of a system for the spatial characterization of laser-produced plasma x-ray sources. While pinhole cameras are normally used for this purpose, we employed a zone plate to act as the x-ray lens. Together with an x-ray CCD camera as the detector, a spatial resolution of up to 2 m was achieved. Due to the wavelength-dependent focal length of a zone plate, the monochromaticity of the image was better than /=150, and the large aperture of the zone plate allowed single-laser-shot images to be collected. Methanol and ethanol were used as liquid-jet target systems. Two different Nd:YAG lasers with pulse durations of 3 ns and 10 ns produced the plasmas. Our measurements concentrated on the line emission of carbon in the soft x-ray spectral range, namely, the hydrogen-like -line at 3.37 nm and the helium-like -line at 4.03 nm. We investigated the influence of different nozzle sizes, laser energies, and pulse durations on the source size of the plasma. Depending on the experimental conditions, plasma diameters of 17–60 m were measured. PACS 41.50.+h; 52.38.-r; 52.70.La     

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.     

Transmission grating spectrograph with on-line recording of XUV soft X-ray spectra from laser produced plasmas

The setting up and on-line operation of a transmission grating spectrograph in the XUV soft X-ray region is described. The detector was a microchannel plate–image intensifier combination, and the output of the image intensifier was coupled to a CCD camera–frame grabber system through an imaging lens. The spectrograph could be operated in the 5–20 Å range with 0.6 Å spectral resolution and in the 5–50 Å range with 1 Å resolution, respectively. The high sensitivity of the detector enables single shot operation, which is useful for several laser plasma interaction studies.     

Intense picosecond X-Ray pulses from laser plasmas by use of nanostructured "Velvet" targets

We describe the optical, radiative, and laser-plasma physics of a new type of nanostructured surface especially promising as a very high absorption target for high-peak-power subpicosecond laser-matter interaction. This oriented-nanowire material, irradiated by 1 ps pulses at intensities up to 10(17) W cm(-2), produces picosecond soft x-ray pulses 50x more efficiently than do solid targets. We compare this to "smoke" or metallic clusters, and solid nanogroove-grating surfaces; the "metal-velvet" targets combine the high yield of smoke targets with the brief emission of grating surfaces.     

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.     

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.     

A spectroscopic study of laser injected metallic impurities into TFR tokamak plasmas

Vanadium, chromium, and nickel have been injected into TFR tokamak plasmas by using the laser injection technique. Spectroscopic studies show that the particle confinement time increases as the impurities diffuse towards the plasma center. Moreover, the confinement time of laser-injected vanadium impurities has been found to increase with the mass of background plasma ions.     

Magnetic field generation via linear conversion of laser radiation into leaking surface waves in laser produced plasmas

The generation of large amplitude (MG) quasi-stationary magnetic fields in a laser produced plasma with density profile steepening in the domain of the critical point is considered. The spatial structure of the generated magnetic fields in this domain is obtained. It is shown that the density profile steepening causes a significant enhancement of the generated magnetic fields with respect to a linear profile. The saturation level of the generated magnetic fields is evaluated.     

X-ray spectra of plasmas created with ultrashort laser pulses

The results are presented on the observation of X-ray spectra of plasmas formed by 250-psec laser pulses focusing on Ti, Fe and Cr targets. Specific characteristics of the spectra obtained are explained on the basis of a transient heating model.     

Spatial resolution of laser produced plasmas with X-ray crystals

X-ray spectra taken with good quality flat crystals can yield spatial resolution of small plasma sources at the expense of spectral resolution. 40 μm spatial resolution of a laser-produced aluminum plasma was obtained using lines of wavelength ～6 Å.     

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.     

Taking into account scattering of polarized laser radiation by cuvet walls when probing blood

We have studied the ratio of the intensities of radiation scattered by a layer of blood in a cuvet and by the cuvet walls for normal incidence or incidence at the Brewster angle for probing radiation from a He-Ne laser, linearly polarized in the plane of incidence (plane of observation) or orthogonal to that plane. We have compared it with the intensity of the radiation reflected by the surface of the cuvet wall, as estimated based on the geometric approximation. We have found the optimal conditions for probing and observing scattering for the layer in a cuvet, where such conditions are characterized by a minimal effect from the cuvet walls and the maximum ratio of useful signal to background. Report given at the Fifth International Scientific and Technical Conference on Quantum Electronics, 22–25 November 2004, Minsk, Belarus. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 270–272, March–April, 2006.     

Colchicine fluorescence measured with a laser spectrofluorimeter

A laser spectrofluorimeter is used to observe the fluorescence from colchicine, α-methoxy-tropone and tropolone in aqueous solutions at room temperature.     

Harmonic emission from the rear side of thin overdense foils irradiated with intense ultrashort laser pulses

The harmonic emission from thin solid carbon and aluminum foils, irradiated by 150 fs long frequency-doubled Ti:sapphire laser pulses at lambda=395 nm and peak intensities of a few 10(18) W/cm(2), has been studied. In addition to the harmonics emitted from the front side in the specular direction, we observe harmonics up to the 10th order, including the fundamental from the rear side in the direction of the incident beam, while the foil is still strongly overdense. The experimental observations are well reproduced by particle-in-cell simulations. They reveal that strong coupling between the laser-irradiated side and the rear side occurs via the nonlocal electron current driven by the laser light.     

Production of dense plasmas with sub-10-fs laser pulses

Close to solid state density plasmas with peak electron temperatures of about 190 eV have been generated with sub-10-fs laser pulses incident on solid targets. Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectroscopy is used to investigate the K shell emission from the plasma. In the spectra, a series limit for the H- and He-like resonance lines becomes evident which is explained by pressure ionization in the dense plasma. The spectra are consistent with computer simulations calculating the XUV emission and the expansion of the plasma.