Energy Penetration into Arrays of Aligned Nanowires Irradiated with Relativistic Intensities: Scaling to Terabar Pressures
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Heinrich Heine Univ., Dusseldorf (Germany)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- ARTEP Inc., Ellicott City, MD (United States)
Ultra-high-energy-density (UHED) matter, characterized by energy densities > 1 x 108 J cm-3 and pressures greater than a gigabar, is encountered in the center of stars and in inertial confinement fusion capsules driven by the world’s largest lasers. Similar conditions can be obtained with compact, ultra-high contrast, femtosecond lasers focused to relativistic intensities onto targets composed of aligned nanowire arrays. Here we report the measurement of the key physical process in determining the energy density deposited in high aspect ratio nanowire array plasmas: the energy penetration. By monitoring the x-ray emission from buried Co tracer segments in Ni nanowire arrays irradiated at an intensity of 4 x 1019 W cm-2, we demonstrate energy penetration depths of several μm, leading to UHED plasmas of that size. Relativistic 3D particle-in-cell-simulations, validated by these measurements, predict that irradiation of nanostructures at intensities of > 1 x 1022 W cm-2 will lead to a virtually unexplored extreme UHED plasma regime characterized by energy densities in excess of 8 x 1010 J cm-3, equivalent to a pressure of 0.35 Tbar.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- OSTI ID:
- 1361610
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-TR-708861
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Ultra-high energy density relativistic plasmas from nanostructures: scaling to ultra-high intensities (Final Report)
Study of Volumetrically Heated Ultra-High Energy Density Plasmas