Experiment and simulation of novel liquid crystal plasma mirrors for high contrast, intense laser pulses

Poole, P. L.; Krygier, A.; Cochran, G. E.; Foster, P. S.; Scott, G. G.; Wilson, L. A.; Bailey, J.; Bourgeois, N.; Hernandez-Gomez, C.; Neely, D.; Rajeev, P. P.; Freeman, R. R.; Schumacher, D. W.

doi:10.1038/srep32041

Title: Experiment and simulation of novel liquid crystal plasma mirrors for high contrast, intense laser pulses

Journal Article · Thu Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32041· OSTI ID:1349103

Poole, P. L. ^[1]; Krygier, A. ^[2]; Cochran, G. E. ^[1]; Foster, P. S. ^[3]; Scott, G. G. ^[3]; Wilson, L. A. ^[3]; Bailey, J. ^[3]; Bourgeois, N. ^[3]; Hernandez-Gomez, C. ^[3]; Neely, D. ^[3]; Rajeev, P. P. ^[3]; Freeman, R. R. ^[1]; Schumacher, D. W. ^[1]

The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Univ. Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France)
STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab., Oxfordshire (United Kingdom)

We describe the first demonstration of plasma mirrors made using freely suspended, ultra-thin films formed dynamically and in-situ. We also present novel particle-in-cell simulations that for the first time incorporate multiphoton ionization and dielectric models that are necessary for describing plasma mirrors. Dielectric plasma mirrors are a crucial component for high intensity laser applications such as ion acceleration and solid target high harmonic generation because they greatly improve pulse contrast. We use the liquid crystal 8CB and introduce an innovative dynamic film formation device that can tune the film thickness so that it acts as its own antireflection coating. Films can be formed at a prolonged, high repetition rate without the need for subsequent realignment. High intensity reflectance above 75% and low-field reflectance below 0.2% are demonstrated, as well as initial ion acceleration experimental results that demonstrate increased ion energy and yield on shots cleaned with these plasma mirrors.

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Research Organization:: The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003107; FC52-06NA26262

OSTI ID:: 1349103

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1361202

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 21 works

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Modeling pulse-cleaning plasma mirrors from dielectric response to saturation: A particle-in-cell approach Cochran, Ginevra E.; Poole, Patrick L.; Schumacher, Douglass W. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5109683	journal	October 2019
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Petawatt and exawatt class lasers worldwide Danson, Colin N.; Haefner, Constantin; Bromage, Jake High Power Laser Science and Engineering, Vol. 7 https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2019.36	journal	January 2019
Petawatt and exawatt class lasers worldwide Danson, Colin N.; Haefner, Constantin; Bromage, Jake GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, GSI, Darmstadt https://doi.org/10.15120/gsi-2019-00946	text	January 2019
Compact Multistage Plasma-Based Accelerator Design for Correlated Energy Spread Compensation Ferran Pousa, A.; Martinez De La Ossa, A.; Brinkmann, R. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg https://doi.org/10.3204/pubdb-2019-03025	text	January 2019

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