Features of femtosecond laser pulse reflection from a sharp boundary of relativistic laser plasma

The features of femtosecond laser pulse reflection from a plasma target of near-critical density were analytically and numerically studied in a wide range of laser pulse intensities and durations. Based on analytical calculations, it is shown that the pulse reflectance at a constant intensity decreases with decreasing pulse duration. Based of numerical simulation results, it is shown that, as a superintense femtosecond laser pulse is incident on a plasma layer with a concentration close to the critical one, a quasi-periodic electron-density structure is formed in the plasma bulk, which can both increase and decrease the the laser pulse reflectance.     

Pulse chirping effect on controlling the transverse cavity oscillations in nonlinear bubble regime

The propagation of an intense laser pulse in an under-dense plasma induces a plasma wake that is suitable for the acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies. For an ultra-intense laser pulse which has a longitudinal size shorter than the plasma wavelength, λp, instead of a periodic plasma wave, a cavity free from cold plasma electrons, called a bubble, is formed behind the laser pulse. An intense charge separation electric field inside the moving bubble can capture the electrons at the base of the bubble and accelerate them with a narrow energy spread. In the nonlinear bubble regime, due to localized depletion at the front of the pulse during its propagation through the plasma, the phase shift between carrier waves and pulse envelope plays an important role in plasma response. The carrier–envelope phase(CEP) breaks down the symmetric transverse ponderomotive force of the laser pulse that makes the bubble structure unstable. Our studies using a series of two-dimensional(2D) particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations show that the frequency-chirped laser pulses are more effective in controlling the pulse depletion rate and consequently the effect of the CEP in the bubble regime. The results indicate that the utilization of a positively chirped laser pulse leads to an increase in rate of erosion of the leading edge of the pulse that rapidly results in the formation of a steep intensity gradient at the front of the pulse. A more unstable bubble structure, the self-injections in different positions, and high dark current are the results of using a positively chirped laser pulse. For a negatively chirped laser pulse, the pulse depletion process is compensated during the propagation of the pulse in plasma in such a way that results in a more stable bubble shape and therefore, a localized electron bunch is produced during the acceleration process. As a result, by the proper choice of chirping, one can tune the number of self-injected electrons, the size of accelerated bunch and its energy spectrum to the values required for practical applications.     

稀薄等离子体中激发尾波场的共振条件

研究了在稀薄等离子体中强激光激发尾波场的情况 ,发现尾波场的激发与入射激光的脉冲宽度有共振现象。在光强很小情况下 ,共振所需要的入射激光脉冲宽度为λp 2 ,随着光强的增大共振激光脉冲宽度减小。同时发现在稀薄等离子体中激发的尾波势场与等离子体的密度几乎无关 ,而激发的尾波场最大电场强度与等离子体的密度有关。     

激光诱导等离子体开关控制脉宽实验研究

 利用激光诱导等离子体开关技术，在1 064 nm的Nd：YAG固体激光器上获得了脉宽4.4~6.4 ns的短脉冲激光输出。激光电离空气产生的等离子体开关控制脉冲宽度时，聚焦透镜焦距越短，压缩后的脉宽越窄，但激光能量损耗越大。压缩后的激光脉宽与激光能量近似成双曲线关系。在控制脉宽光路的焦点处放置带孔的Cu薄片可抑制等离子体的扩散，得到了脉宽最短可达4.4 ns的激光输出。     

On the possibility of the emission of attosecond pulses owing to the interaction of counterpropagating relativistically intense laser pulses with a thin layer of a diluted plasma

A numerical experiment in which two relativistically intense laser pulses are normally incident on a layer of a diluted plasma from two opposite sides is described. The period of Langmuir plasma oscillations is much larger than the pulse duration and the product of this period by the speed of light is much larger than the thickness of the layer. A pulse propagating to the right is incident on the layer earlier than the counter pulse and carries a significant fraction of electrons or all of the electrons from the plasma. Under certain conditions, electrons form a bunch, which contains most of the electrons and has a thickness much smaller than the wavelength of light. The counter pulse perturbs the motion of the bunch and initiates the emission of a short few-cycle pulse, which propagates in the positive direction (to the right), significantly differs in structure from the counter pulse, and has a duration much smaller than the field period in laser pulses.     

The effect of plasma channel on the self-distortion of laser pulse propagating through the collisional plasma channel

In the present paper, laser pulse distortion/breakup and the effect of the plasma channel on the laser propagation through the collisional plasma have been studied by using moment theory approach. Second order nonlinear differential equations of the beam width parameter have been derived for the propagation of the laser through uniform homogenous plasma and preformed plasma channel having parabolic density profile. Differential equations of beam width parameter have been solved numerically using Runge Kutta method. It has been observed from analysis that when the laser pulse propagates through the homogenous plasma, the low intensity front and rear parts of the laser get defocused/diffracted and the high intensity central/main portion of the laser pulse gets self-guided. As a result of this, the laser pulse gets distorted. This distortion of the laser has not been observed when the laser pulse is propagated through the plasma channel having density minimum at the axis and maximum at the edges. The laser pulse is guided as a whole, even the low intensity front and rear parts of the laser are also guided. Therefore, the plasma channel is useful to prevent the distortion/breakup of the laser.     

Nonlinear interaction of ultraintense laser pulse with relativistic thin plasma foil in the radiation pressure-dominant regime

We present a study of the effect of laser pulse temporal profile on the energy /momentum acquired by the ions as a result of the ultraintense laser pulse focussed on a thin plasma layer in the radiation pressure-dominant (RPD) regime. In the RPD regime, the plasma foil is pushed by ultraintense laser pulse when the radiation cannot propagate through the foil, while the electron and ion layers move together. The nonlinear character of laser–matter interaction is exhibited in the relativistic frequency shift, and also change in the wave amplitude as the EM wave gets reflected by the relativistically moving thin dense plasma layer. Relativistic effects in a high-energy plasma provide matching conditions that make it possible to exchange very effectively ordered kinetic energy and momentum between the EM fields and the plasma. When matter moves at relativistic velocities, the efficiency of the energy transfer from the radiation to thin plasma foil is more than 30% and in ultrarelativistic case it approaches one. The momentum /energy transfer to the ions is found to depend on the temporal profile of the laser pulse. Our numerical results show that for the same laser and plasma parameters, a Lorentzian pulse can accelerate ions upto 0.2 GeV within 10 fs which is 1.5 times larger than that a Gaussian pulse can.     

Demonstration of laser-frequency upshift by electron-density modulations in a plasma wakefield

In a plasma wake wave generated by a high power laser, modulations of the electron density take the shape of paraboloidal dense shells, moving almost at the speed of light. A counterpropagating laser pulse is partially reflected from the shells, acting as relativistic flying mirrors, producing a time-compressed frequency-multiplied pulse due to the double Doppler effect. The counterpropagating laser pulse reflection from the plasma wake wave accompanied by its frequency multiplication (with a factor from 50 to 114) was detected in our experiment.     

Resonant third harmonic generation of a short pulse laser in plasma by applying a wiggler magnetic field

We examine the effect of wiggler magnetic field on pulse slippage of short pulse laser-induced third harmonic generation in plasma. The process of third harmonic generation of an intense short pulse laser in plasma is resonantly enhanced by the application of a magnetic wiggler. The laser exerts a ponderomotive force at second harmonic driving density oscillations. The second harmonic oscillations coupled with electron velocity at the laser frequency, produces a non-linear current, driving the third harmonic. Third harmonic pulse generates in the fundamental pulse domain. However, the group velocity of the third harmonic wave is greater than the fundamental wave. Hence, the third harmonic pulse saturates strongly and moves forward from the fundamental pulse at shorter distance than the second harmonic pulse.     

Titanium plasma spectroscopy studies under double pulse laser excitation

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied for parametric studies of titanium (Ti) plasma using single and double pulsed laser excitation scheme. Here a pulsed Nd:YAG laser was employed for generation of laser produced plasma from solid Ti target at ambient pressure. Several ionized titanium lines were recorded in the 312–334 nm UV region. The temporal evolution of plasma parameters such as excitation temperature and electron number density was evaluated. The effect of incident laser irradiance, position of the laser beam focal point with respect to the surface of illumination, single and double laser pulse effect on plasma parameters were also investigated. This study contributes to a better understanding of the LIBS plasma dynamics of the double laser pulse effect on the temporal evolution of various Ti emission lines, the detection sensitivity and the optimal dynamics of plasma for ionized states of Ti. The results demonstrate a faster decay of the continuum and spectral lines and a shorter plasma life time for the double pulse excitation scheme as compared with single laser pulse excitation. For double pulse excitation technique, the emissions of Ti lines intensities are enhanced by a factor of five which could help in the improvement of analytical performance of LIBS technique. In addition, this study proved that to avoid inhomogeneous effects in the laser produced plasma under high laser intensities, short delay times between the incident laser pulse and ICCD gate are required.     

Experimental study of wave propagation through a rapidly createdplasma

Frequency upconversion and converting a CW source microwave into a frequency upshifted and chirped periodic pulse have been demonstrated by two experiments. In the first one, the CW source microwave propagates through a periodically microwave-discharged plasma. The CW source microwave is converted into a periodic pulse having upshifted carrier frequency. The second one uses a high-voltage (~100-kV) DC discharge to generate a dense plasma suddenly between two parallel plates. A frequency upshifted and chirped pulse (~2 ns) converting from the CW source microwave interacting with the suddenly created plasma is observed. The central frequency (~6.4 GHz) of the pulse is upshifted from the frequency (~4.7 GHz) of the source wave by about 40%. Moreover, frequency components which are upshifted as high as 80% are also observed     

电子等离子体波对超短脉冲激光传播过程的作用

提出等离子体波对光脉冲产生相位调制的观点,把光脉冲在背景等离子体波中传播时的频率移动与脉宽压缩效应统一起来。给出了脉宽演化的方程,它类似于在势阱中运动的经典粒子的能量守恒方程;估算了脉宽压缩对应的等离子体波振幅阈值。数值计算进一步证实这些结论。最后指出实验上用等离子体波压缩短脉冲激光脉宽的可能性。 关键词：     

Z箍缩等离子体振荡引起的电磁脉冲辐射

从理论上研究了Z箍缩过程中单模的等离子体振荡引起的电磁脉冲辐射。当模式扰动的相速度大于真空中的光速时,电磁脉冲辐射具有类似于切伦科夫辐射的角分布特征,并且随着相速度的增大这种定向辐射特征越显著;不同波长的电磁辐射也具有不同的角分布特征,短波长的电磁脉冲具有更好的定向性。电磁辐射功率强烈依赖于电子的等离子体振荡频率和等离子体柱的半径。     

准分子激光等离子体开关控制脉宽研究

 利用准分子激光等离子体技术，在紫外预电离XeCl准分子激光器上获得了最短1.58 ns的短脉冲激光输出。实验中分析了聚焦到薄膜表面的光束能量密度对所产生的等离子体密度的影响，并对不同等离子体密度及维持时间情况下脉冲压缩效果进行了讨论，给出了激光器谐振腔在稳定腔及非稳腔两种工作方式下的实验结果。激光器在稳定腔工作时，脉宽可压缩至2.87 ns；采用非稳腔结构时，在脉冲能量不变情况下减小聚焦光斑面积，提高入射到薄膜表面的能量密度，得到了最短1.58 ns的短脉冲激光输出。该技术适用于任何其它准分子器件。     

Backward Raman amplification in a plasma waveguide

Backward Raman amplification of a short laser pulse in a plasma waveguide is demonstrated. With a guided seed pulse of 0.8-microJ energy and a pump pulse of 345-mJ energy in a 9-mm-long optically preformed plasma waveguide, 910-fold energy amplification is achieved. Heating of the plasma by the long pump pulse is identified to be a key issue for plasma-waveguide-based backward Raman amplifiers.     

Propagation of the high power laser pulse in multicomponent cluster targets

We present the results of 3D PIC and 2D PIC simulations of the ultra short high irradiance laser pulse interaction with targets where the plasma containing multicomponent cluster targets and multicluster cloud is imbedded in an underdense plasma. In both cases the laser radiation expels the electrons from the clusters and ejects them into the wake plasma wave generated by the ultrashort laser pulse in the underdense plasma. This provides a novel mechanism for the electron injection into the wake field for acceleration.     

A self-consistent Maltsev pulse model

A self-consistent model for an electron pulse propagating through a plasma is presented. In this model, the charge imbalance between plasma ions, plasma electrons and pulse electrons creates the travelling potential well in which the pulse electrons are trapped.     

Optical characteristics of barrier discharge plasma based on mixtures of mercury diiodide and dibromide vapors with gases

We analyze the spectral, integrated, and durability characteristics of radiation from atmospheric-pressure gas-discharge plasma based on multicomponent mixtures (mercury diiodide and dibromide with helium and small admixtures of molecular nitrogen and xenon). We produced the gas-discharge plasma and excited the components of the working mixture by a pulsed (pulse repetition rates 500, 2000, and 4000 Hz; pulse duration ～150 ns) barrier discharge. Visible radiation was detected from excimer molecules of mercury monoiodide and monobromide, nitrogen and helium molecules, and helium and mercury atoms. Patterns were found in the variations of optical plasma characteristics with pumping pulse repetition rate and with component and quantitative mixture composition.     

Observation of laser-pulse shortening in nonlinear plasma waves

We have measured the temporal shortening of an ultraintense laser pulse interacting with an underdense plasma. When interacting with strongly nonlinear plasma waves, the laser pulse is shortened from 38 +/- 2 fs to the 10-14 fs level, with a 20% energy efficiency. The laser ponderomotive force excites a wakefield, which, along with relativistic self-phase modulation, broadens the laser spectrum and subsequently compresses the pulse. This mechanism is confirmed by 3D particle in cell simulations.     

Storing, retrieving, and processing optical information by Raman backscattering in plasmas

By employing stimulated Raman backscattering in a plasma, information carried by a laser pulse can be captured in the form of a very slowly propagating plasma wave that persists for a time long compared with the pulse duration. If the plasma is then probed with a short laser pulse, the information stored in the plasma wave can be retrieved in a second scattered electromagnetic wave. The recording and retrieving processes can conserve robustly the pulse shape, thus enabling the recording and retrieving with fidelity of information stored in optical signals.