Laser acceleration of electrons in two-dimensionally inhomogeneous plasma at the boundary of a metal foil
- Russian Academy of Sciences, Joint Institute for High Temperature (Russian Federation)
- Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Applied Physics (Russian Federation)
The electron acceleration mechanism associated with the generation of a plasma wave due to self-modulation instability of laser radiation in a subcritical plasma produced by a laser prepulse coming 10 ns before the arrival of the main intense femtosecond pulse is considered. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of the interaction of laser radiation with two-dimensionally inhomogeneous subcritical plasma have shown that, for a sufficiently strong plasma inhomogeneity and a sharp front of the laser pulse, efficient plasma wave excitation, electron trapping, and generation of collimated electron beams with energies on the order of 0.2–0.5 MeV can occur. The simulation results agree with experiments on the generation of collimated beams of accelerated electrons from metal targets irradiated by intense femtosecond laser pulses.
- OSTI ID:
- 22472249
- Journal Information:
- Plasma Physics Reports, Vol. 41, Issue 7; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2015 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-780X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Observation of a quasimonoenergetic electron beam from a femtosecond prepulse-exploded foil
Effects of laser prepulse on proton generation: active manipulation of the distribution of laser accelerated proton beams