Laser-driven micro-Coulomb charge movement and energy conversion to relativistic electrons
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sigma Labs, Inc., Santa Fe, NM (United States)
- Inst. of Physics of the ASCR, Prague (Czech Republic)
- Queen's Univ. of Belfast (United Kingdom)
Development of robust instrumentation has shown evidence for a multi-μC expulsion of relativistic electrons from a sub-μm-thick foil, laser illuminated with 60–70 J on target at 2 × 1020 W/cm2. From previous work and with electron spectroscopy, it is seen that an exponential electron energy distribution is accurate enough to calculate the emitted electron charge and energy content. The 5–10-μC charge for the >100-TW Trident Laser represents the first active measurement of the >50% laser-light-to-electron conversion efficiency. By shorting out the TV/m electric field usually associated with accelerating multi-MeV ions from such targets, one finds that this charge is representative of a multi-MA current of relativistic electrons for diverse applications from electron fast ignition to advanced radiography concepts. Also included with the details of the discoveries of this research, shortcomings of the diagnostics and means of improving their fidelity are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001; AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1499338
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-22891
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 9; ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Enhanced electron acceleration in aligned nanowire arrays irradiated at highly relativistic intensities
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journal | November 2019 |
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