Laser pulse propagation and enhanced energy coupling to fast electrons in dense plasma gradients
(2014) In New Journal of Physics 16.- Abstract
- Laser energy absorption to fast electrons during the interaction of an ultra-intense (10(20) Wcm(-2)), picosecond laser pulse with a solid is investigated, experimentally and numerically, as a function of the plasma density scale length at the irradiated surface. It is shown that there is an optimum density gradient for efficient energy coupling to electrons and that this arises due to strong self-focusing and channeling driving energy absorption over an extended length in the preformed plasma. At longer density gradients the laser filaments, resulting in significantly lower overall energy coupling. As the scale length is further increased, a transition to a second laser energy absorption process is observed experimentally via multiple... (More)
- Laser energy absorption to fast electrons during the interaction of an ultra-intense (10(20) Wcm(-2)), picosecond laser pulse with a solid is investigated, experimentally and numerically, as a function of the plasma density scale length at the irradiated surface. It is shown that there is an optimum density gradient for efficient energy coupling to electrons and that this arises due to strong self-focusing and channeling driving energy absorption over an extended length in the preformed plasma. At longer density gradients the laser filaments, resulting in significantly lower overall energy coupling. As the scale length is further increased, a transition to a second laser energy absorption process is observed experimentally via multiple diagnostics. The results demonstrate that it is possible to significantly enhance laser energy absorption and coupling to fast electrons by dynamically controlling the plasma density gradient. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4941451
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- laser-plasma interaction, laser pulse propagation, fast electron, generation
- in
- New Journal of Physics
- volume
- 16
- article number
- 113075
- publisher
- IOP Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000346764200001
- scopus:84918594219
- ISSN
- 1367-2630
- DOI
- 10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113075
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b0440e2b-624c-46b1-979e-a3327ef81ea3 (old id 4941451)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:32:37
- date last changed
- 2022-03-29 07:58:37
@article{b0440e2b-624c-46b1-979e-a3327ef81ea3, abstract = {{Laser energy absorption to fast electrons during the interaction of an ultra-intense (10(20) Wcm(-2)), picosecond laser pulse with a solid is investigated, experimentally and numerically, as a function of the plasma density scale length at the irradiated surface. It is shown that there is an optimum density gradient for efficient energy coupling to electrons and that this arises due to strong self-focusing and channeling driving energy absorption over an extended length in the preformed plasma. At longer density gradients the laser filaments, resulting in significantly lower overall energy coupling. As the scale length is further increased, a transition to a second laser energy absorption process is observed experimentally via multiple diagnostics. The results demonstrate that it is possible to significantly enhance laser energy absorption and coupling to fast electrons by dynamically controlling the plasma density gradient.}}, author = {{Gray, R. J. and Carroll, D. C. and Yuan, X. H. and Brenner, C. M. and Burza, Matthias and Coury, M. and Lancaster, K. L. and Lin, X. X. and Li, Y. T. and Neely, D. and Quinn, M. N. and Tresca, O. and Wahlström, Claes-Göran and McKenna, P.}}, issn = {{1367-2630}}, keywords = {{laser-plasma interaction; laser pulse propagation; fast electron; generation}}, language = {{eng}}, publisher = {{IOP Publishing}}, series = {{New Journal of Physics}}, title = {{Laser pulse propagation and enhanced energy coupling to fast electrons in dense plasma gradients}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113075}}, doi = {{10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113075}}, volume = {{16}}, year = {{2014}}, }