Solitonlike Electromagnetic Waves behind a Superintense Laser Pulse in a Plasma

Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Naumova, N. M.; Пегораро, Ф.; Вшивков, В. А.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.82.3440

Cited by 159 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Interactions between intense short laser pulses and background plasma give rise to a number of nonlinear effects [80,[82][83][84] associated with relativistic electron mass increase in the electromagnetic fields and the plasma density modification due to relativistic radiation ponderomotive force. In the past, several authors presented theoretical [86][87][88] and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation studies [88][89][90][91] of intense electromagnetic envelope solitons in a cold plasma where the plasma slow response to the electromagnetic waves is modeled by the electron continuity and relativistic momentum equations, supplemented by Poisson's equation. Experimental observations [92] show bubble-like structures in proton images of laser-produced plasmas, which are interpreted as remnants of electromagnetic envelope solitons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation and dynamics of coherent structures involving phase-space vortices in plasmas

2006

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We present a comprehensive review of recent theoretical and numerical studies of the formation and dynamics of electron and ion holes in a collisionless plasma. The electron hole is characterized by a localized positive potential in which a population of electrons is trapped, and a depletion of the electron number density, while the ion hole is associated with localized negative potential in which a population of ions is trapped and a depletion of both the ion and electron densities occur. We present conditions for the existence of quasi-stationary electron and ion holes in unmagnetized and magnetized electron-ion plasmas, as well as in an unmagnetized pair-ion plasma. An interesting aspect is the dynamic interactions between ion and electron holes and the surrounding plasma. The dynamics is investigated by means of numerical simulations in which analytical solutions of quasistationary electron and ion holes are used as initial conditions. Our Vlasov simulations of two colliding ion holes reveal the acceleration of electrons and a modification of the initially Maxwellian electron distribution function by the ion hole potentials, which work as barriers for the electrons. A secondary effect is the excitation of high-frequency plasma waves by the streams of electrons. On the other hand, we find that electron holes show an interesting dynamics in the presence of mobile ions. Since electron holes are associated with a positive electrostatic potential, they repel positively charged ions. Numerical simulations of electron holes in a plasma with mobile ions exhibit that the electron holes are, in general, attracted by ion density maxima and repelled by ion density minima. Therefore, standing electron holes can be accelerated by the self-created ion cavities. In a pair plasma, both the temperatures and masses of the positively and negatively charged particles are assumed equal, and therefore one must treat both species with a kinetic theory on an equal footing. Accordingly, a phase-space hole in one of the species is associated with reflected particles in the opposite species. Here standing solitary large-amplitude holes are not allowed, but they must have a propagation speed close to the thermal speed of the particles. We discuss extensions of the existing non-relativistic theories for the electron and ion holes in two directions. First, we describe a fully nonlinear kinetic theory for relativistic electron holes (REHs) in an unmagnetized plasma, and show that the REHs have amplitudes and widths much larger than their non-relativistic counterparts. Second, we extend the weakly nonlinear theories for the electron and ion holes to include the effects of the external magnetic field and the plasma inhomogeneity. The presence of the external magnetic field gives rise to the electron and ion hole structures which have differential scale sizes along and across the magnetic field direction. Consideration of the density inhomogeneity in a magnetized plasma with non-isothermal electron distribution function provides the p...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation and dynamics of coherent structures involving phase-space vortices in plasmas

2006

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“…Interactions between intense short laser pulses and background plasma give rise to a number of nonlinear effects (Mendonça, 2001;Shukla et al, 1986;Bingham et al, 2003;Bingham, 2004) associated with relativistic electron mass increase in the electromagnetic fields and the plasma density modification due to relativistic radiation ponderomotive force. In the past, several authors presented theoretical (Kaw et al, 1992;Esirkepov et al, 1998) and particle-in-cell simulation (Esirkepov et al, 1998;Bulanov et al, 1999;Farina and Bulanov, 2001;Naumova et al, 2001) studies of intense electromagnetic envelope solitons in a cold plasma where the plasma slow response to the electromagnetic waves is modeled by the electron continuity and relativistic momentum equations, supplemented by Poisson's equation. Experimental observations (Borghesi et al, 2002) have shown bubble-like structures in proton images of laser-produced plasmas, which are interpreted as remnants of electromagnetic envelope solitons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dynamics of electron and ion holes in a collisionless plasma

Eliasson

Shukła

2005

Nonlin. Processes Geophys.

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Abstract. We present a review of recent analytical and numerical studies of the dynamics of electron and ion holes in a collisionless plasma. The new results are based on the class of analytic solutions which were found by Schamel more than three decades ago, and which here work as initial conditions to numerical simulations of the dynamics of ion and electron holes and their interaction with radiation and the background plasma. Our analytic and numerical studies reveal that ion holes in an electron-ion plasma can trap Langmuir waves, due the local electron density depletion associated with the negative ion hole potential. Since the scalelength of the ion holes are on a relatively small Debye scale, the trapped Langmuir waves are Landau damped. We also find that colliding ion holes accelerate electron streams by the negative ion hole potentials, and that these streams of electrons excite Langmuir waves due to a streaming instability. In our Vlasov simulation of two colliding ion holes, the holes survive the collision and after the collision, the electron distribution becomes flat-topped between the two ion holes due to the ion hole potentials which work as potential barriers for low-energy electrons. Our study of the dynamics between electron holes and the ion background reveals that standing electron holes can be accelerated by the selfcreated ion cavity owing to the positive electron hole potential. Vlasov simulations show that electron holes are repelled by ion density minima and attracted by ion density maxima. We also present an extension of Schamel's theory to relativistically hot plasmas, where the relativistic mass increase of the accelerated electrons have a dramatic effect on the electron hole, with an increase in the electron hole potential and in the width of the electron hole. A study of the interaction between electromagnetic waves with relativistic electron holes shows that electromagnetic waves can be both linearly and nonlinearly trapped in the electron hole, which widens further due to the relativistic mass increase and ponderomotive force in the oscillating electromagnetic field. The results of Correspondence to: B. Eliasson (bengt@tp4.rub.de) our simulations could be helpful to understand the nonlinear dynamics of electron and ion holes in space and laboratory plasmas.

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“…These structures are tentatively being interpreted as being related to the growth of solitons inside the channel. Solitons form in high-intensity interactions due to trapping of the red shifted electromagnetic radiation by the ambient plasma, which behaves as overdense for them Bulanov et al, 1999;Lontano et al, 2003!. Due to the ponderomotive force, they expel the electrons from the core producing a positively charged sphere, which deflects protons, and are imprinted over the RCF as a "white" regioñ Borghesi et al, 2002b!. The main features of the observed channel in the experimental data are qualitatively reproduced in 2D electro-…”

Section: Space-charge Fields and Channel Formation In Underdense Plasmentioning

confidence: 78%

Impulsive electric fields driven by high-intensity laser matter interactions

et al. 2007

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The interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with matter releases instantaneously ultra-large currents of highly energetic electrons, leading to the generation of highly-transient, large-amplitude electric and magnetic fields. We report results of recent experiments in which such charge dynamics have been studied by using proton probing techniques able to provide maps of the electrostatic fields with high spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamics of ponderomotive channeling in underdense plasmas have been studied in this way, as also the processes of Debye sheath formation and MeV ion front expansion at the rear of laser-irradiated thin metallic foils. Laser-driven impulsive fields at the surface of solid targets can be applied for energy-selective ion beam focusing.

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Solitonlike Electromagnetic Waves behind a Superintense Laser Pulse in a Plasma

Cited by 159 publications

References 25 publications

Formation and dynamics of coherent structures involving phase-space vortices in plasmas

Formation and dynamics of coherent structures involving phase-space vortices in plasmas

The dynamics of electron and ion holes in a collisionless plasma

Impulsive electric fields driven by high-intensity laser matter interactions

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