Direct laser acceleration(DLA)of electrons in a plasma of near-critical electron density(NCD)and the associated synchrotron-like radiation are discussed for moderate relativistic laser intensity(normalized laser ampli...Direct laser acceleration(DLA)of electrons in a plasma of near-critical electron density(NCD)and the associated synchrotron-like radiation are discussed for moderate relativistic laser intensity(normalized laser amplitude a0≤4.3)and ps length pulse.This regime is typical of kJ PW-class laser facilities designed for high-energy-density(HED)research.In experiments at the PHELIX facility,it has been demonstrated that interaction of a 1019 W/cm2 sub-ps laser pulse with a sub-mm length NCD plasma results in the generation of high-current well-directed superponderomotive electrons with an effective temperature ten times higher than the ponderomotive potential[Rosmej et al.,Plasma Phys.Controlled Fusion 62,115024(2020)].Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations provide good agreement with the measured electron energy distribution and are used in the current work to study synchrotron radiation from the DLA-accelerated electrons.The resulting x-ray spectrum with a critical energy of 5 keV reveals an ultrahigh photon number of 731011 in the 1–30 keV photon energy range at the focused laser energy of 20 J.Numerical simulations of betatron x-ray phase contrast imaging based on the DLA process for the parameters of a PHELIX laser are presented.The results are of interest for applications in HED experiments,which require a ps x-ray pulse and a high photon flux.展开更多
Laser–plasma interaction(LPI)at intensities 1015–1016 W·cm^-2 is dominated by parametric instabilities which can be responsible for a significant amount of non-collisional absorption and generate large fluxes o...Laser–plasma interaction(LPI)at intensities 1015–1016 W·cm^-2 is dominated by parametric instabilities which can be responsible for a significant amount of non-collisional absorption and generate large fluxes of high-energy nonthermal electrons.Such a regime is of paramount importance for inertial confinement fusion(ICF)and in particular for the shock ignition scheme.In this paper we report on an experiment carried out at the Prague Asterix Laser System(PALS)facility to investigate the extent and time history of stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)and two-plasmon decay(TPD)instabilities,driven by the interaction of an infrared laser pulse at an intensity^1.2×1016 W·cm^-2 with a^100μm scalelength plasma produced from irradiation of a flat plastic target.The laser pulse duration(300 ps)and the high value of plasma temperature(~4 ke V)expected from hydrodynamic simulations make these results interesting for a deeper understanding of LPI in shock ignition conditions.Experimental results show that absolute TPD/SRS,driven at a quarter of the critical density,and convective SRS,driven at lower plasma densities,are well separated in time,with absolute instabilities driven at early times of interaction and convective backward SRS emerging at the laser peak and persisting all over the tail of the pulse.Side-scattering SRS,driven at low plasma densities,is also clearly observed.Experimental results are compared to fully kinetic large-scale,two-dimensional simulations.Particle-in-cell results,beyond reproducing the framework delineated by the experimental measurements,reveal the importance of filamentation instability in ruling the onset of SRS and stimulated Brillouin scattering instabilities and confirm the crucial role of collisionless absorption in the LPI energy balance.展开更多
基金the DFG(Project No.PU 213/9),EPSRC Grant No.EP/P026796/1the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation(Agreement with Joint Institute for High Temperatures RAS No 075-15-2020-785,dated September 23,2020).
文摘Direct laser acceleration(DLA)of electrons in a plasma of near-critical electron density(NCD)and the associated synchrotron-like radiation are discussed for moderate relativistic laser intensity(normalized laser amplitude a0≤4.3)and ps length pulse.This regime is typical of kJ PW-class laser facilities designed for high-energy-density(HED)research.In experiments at the PHELIX facility,it has been demonstrated that interaction of a 1019 W/cm2 sub-ps laser pulse with a sub-mm length NCD plasma results in the generation of high-current well-directed superponderomotive electrons with an effective temperature ten times higher than the ponderomotive potential[Rosmej et al.,Plasma Phys.Controlled Fusion 62,115024(2020)].Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations provide good agreement with the measured electron energy distribution and are used in the current work to study synchrotron radiation from the DLA-accelerated electrons.The resulting x-ray spectrum with a critical energy of 5 keV reveals an ultrahigh photon number of 731011 in the 1–30 keV photon energy range at the focused laser energy of 20 J.Numerical simulations of betatron x-ray phase contrast imaging based on the DLA process for the parameters of a PHELIX laser are presented.The results are of interest for applications in HED experiments,which require a ps x-ray pulse and a high photon flux.
基金financial support from the LASERLAB-EUROPE Access to Research Infrastructure activity within the ECs seventh Framework Programfunding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014–2018 under grant agreement No. 633053+4 种基金partially supported by the project ELITAS (ELI Tools for Advanced Simulation) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 013/0001793HIFI (High Field Initiative, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15 003/0000449)ADONIS (Advanced research using high-intensity laser produced photons and particles, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 019/0000789)ELITAS (ELI Tools for Advanced Simulations,CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 013/0001793)financial support from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports within grants LTT17015, LM2015083, and CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16 013/0001552 (EF16 013/0001552)
文摘Laser–plasma interaction(LPI)at intensities 1015–1016 W·cm^-2 is dominated by parametric instabilities which can be responsible for a significant amount of non-collisional absorption and generate large fluxes of high-energy nonthermal electrons.Such a regime is of paramount importance for inertial confinement fusion(ICF)and in particular for the shock ignition scheme.In this paper we report on an experiment carried out at the Prague Asterix Laser System(PALS)facility to investigate the extent and time history of stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)and two-plasmon decay(TPD)instabilities,driven by the interaction of an infrared laser pulse at an intensity^1.2×1016 W·cm^-2 with a^100μm scalelength plasma produced from irradiation of a flat plastic target.The laser pulse duration(300 ps)and the high value of plasma temperature(~4 ke V)expected from hydrodynamic simulations make these results interesting for a deeper understanding of LPI in shock ignition conditions.Experimental results show that absolute TPD/SRS,driven at a quarter of the critical density,and convective SRS,driven at lower plasma densities,are well separated in time,with absolute instabilities driven at early times of interaction and convective backward SRS emerging at the laser peak and persisting all over the tail of the pulse.Side-scattering SRS,driven at low plasma densities,is also clearly observed.Experimental results are compared to fully kinetic large-scale,two-dimensional simulations.Particle-in-cell results,beyond reproducing the framework delineated by the experimental measurements,reveal the importance of filamentation instability in ruling the onset of SRS and stimulated Brillouin scattering instabilities and confirm the crucial role of collisionless absorption in the LPI energy balance.
