Conservation laws and conversion efficiency in ultraintense laser-overdense plasma interactions

Levy, M. C.; Wilks, S. C.; Tabak, M.; Baring, Matthew G.

doi:10.1063/1.4821607

Cited by 18 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…6(b), the reflectivity drops as many other studies have observed. This trend is well understood as a consequence of relativistic absorption (e.g., Levy et al 38 and references therein). The %50% reflectivity for the 5 Â 10 18 W cm À2 case in Fig.…”

Section: Fig 4 Left Panelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Backward-propagating MeV electrons in ultra-intense laser interactions: Standing wave acceleration and coupling to the reflected laser pulse

et al. 2015

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Laser-accelerated electron beams have been created at a kHz repetition rate from the reflection of intense (∼ 10 18 W/cm 2 ), ∼40 fs laser pulses focused on a continuous water-jet in an experiment at the Air Force Research Laboratory. This paper investigates Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of the laser-target interaction to identify the physical mechanisms of electron acceleration in this experiment. We find that the standing-wave pattern created by the overlap of the incident and reflected laser is particularly important because this standing wave can "inject" electrons into the reflected laser pulse where the electrons are further accelerated. We identify two regimes of standing wave acceleration: a highly relativistic case (a0 ≥ 1), and a moderately relativistic case (a0 ∼ 0.5) which operates over a larger fraction of the laser period. In previous studies, other groups have investigated the highly relativistic case for its usefulness in launching electrons in the forward direction. We extend this by investigating electron acceleration in the specular (back reflection) direction and over a wide range of intensities (10 17 − 10 19 W cm −2 ).

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Section: Fig 4 Left Panelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Backward-propagating MeV electrons in ultra-intense laser interactions: Standing wave acceleration and coupling to the reflected laser pulse

et al. 2015

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“…[72,163,192,175,83,106]. Further extensions to these results are presented in this document in chapters 3 and 4.…”

Section: Particle Dynamics In Ultraintense Light Fieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relevant first-author publications for this section are refs. [106,107,108,109]. Chapter 4 extends these results to include e↵ects related to heterogeneous plasmas, including relativistically-underdense plasmas relevant to 'pre-plasma' situations, and realistic laser spatio-temporal profiles.…”

Section: Thesis Structure Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other promising tracks of research have focused on understanding the initial absorption in detail; that is, the processes controlling the conversion of the ignitor laser energy into electron energy [86,152,88,72,163,175,62,83,106,109] . Germane research of this latter Figure 1.5 : Overview of the physics involved in the coupling of the ignitor pulse energy to the imploding DT fuel.…”

Section: 5mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[210]. This figure shows that the Vlasov equation governing the particle phase space evolution Levy et al [106] The upper limit on absorption f ⇤ is depicted in red and the lower limit f ⇤ in blue, with forbidden regions indicated using…”

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confidence: 99%

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Modeling of Intense Laser Driven High Energy Density Plasmas

Levy¹

2014

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Illuminating matter with petawatt (one quadrillion watts) laser light creates extreme states of plasmas with temperatures exceeding ten million degrees Celsius and pressures exceeding one billion earth atmospheres. These high energy density conditions are driven at the microscopic scale by dense currents of relativistic electrons, oscillating violently in the intense laser fields, as well as the plasma processes arising when these particles lose phase coherence and are injected into bulk target material. Suitably harnessed, this setup opens the way to compact relativistic particle accelerators, laser fusion energy sources, laboratory astrophysics, ultrafast imaging systems, proton cancer therapies, anti-matter creation, high-energy radiation sources and intense high harmonic generation. In this thesis, theoretical models of the absorption of high power laser light by matter are derived, applications of these models are investigated, and simulation tools supporting the diagnosis and implementation of these applications are developed.In particular, an advanced, relativistically-correct theoretical model of petawatt laser absorption by optically-thick targets is developed, accounting for both ion and electron beam aspects of the interaction. Predictions of the model for the energetic properties of these beams, as well as the dynamical motion of the laser-matter interface, are elucidated. Results from high resolution, relativistic, kinetic particle-in-cell simulations using the LSP code are shown to be in good agreement with the model. intensity I l and wavelength l . These results are shown to bound several dozens of published experimental and simulation data points, underlining the usefulness of the iii model. These results are extended to include e↵ects related to heterogeneous plasmas, including relativistically-underdense plasmas relevant to 'pre-plasma' situations, and realistic laser spatio-temporal profiles. Our dynamic considerations of absorption processes are then extended to the 10-petawatt scale. In a manner that could support reaching the QED-plasma regime, a mechanism of focusing high power laser light to higher intensities is elucidated. Supporting the measurement and validation of these models, the development of a new simulation tool for understanding high energy density plasmas, based on the proton radiography technique, is detailed. AcknowledgementsOver the past 5 1 / 2 years it has often seemed that pursuit of graduate studies has formed an exercise in the stewardship of resources entrusted to me by advisors, mentors, collaborators and others. In endeavors bearing fruit, my stewardship of these resources has seemed adequate. In the totality of outcomes, to these people I wish to express my warmest and deepest gratitude. At Livermore I am particularly grateful to Tony Link for interesting and useful discussions on intense laser-plasma interactions and on the LSP code. I also wish to thank my colleagues

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Relativistic Laser and Solid Target Interactions

Takabe

2020

Springer Series in Plasma Science and Technology

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Conservation laws and conversion efficiency in ultraintense laser-overdense plasma interactions

Cited by 18 publications

References 23 publications

Backward-propagating MeV electrons in ultra-intense laser interactions: Standing wave acceleration and coupling to the reflected laser pulse

Backward-propagating MeV electrons in ultra-intense laser interactions: Standing wave acceleration and coupling to the reflected laser pulse

Modeling of Intense Laser Driven High Energy Density Plasmas

Relativistic Laser and Solid Target Interactions

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