Generation of Superponderomotive Electrons in Multipicosecond Interactions of Kilojoule Laser Beams with Solid-Density Plasmas

Sorokovikova, A.; Arefiev, A. V.; McGuffey, C.; Qiao, B.; Robinson, A. P.  L.; Wei, M. S.; McLean, H. S.; Beg, F. N.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.155001

Title: Generation of Superponderomotive Electrons in Multipicosecond Interactions of Kilojoule Laser Beams with Solid-Density Plasmas

Journal Article · Tue Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.155001· OSTI ID:1579609

Sorokovikova, A. ^[1]; Arefiev, A. V. ^[2]; McGuffey, C. ^[1]; Qiao, B. ^[1]; Robinson, A. P. L. ^[3]; Wei, M. S. ^[4]; McLean, H. S. ^[5]; Beg, F. N. ^[1]

Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

The interaction of a multipicosecond, kilojoule laser pulse with a surface of a solid target has been demonstrated to produce electrons with energies far beyond the free-electron ponderomotive limit $$m_{e}c^{2}a^{2}_{0}$$/2. Particle-in-cell simulations suggest that an increase in the pulse duration from 1 to 10 ps leads to the formation of a low-density shelf (about 10% of the critical density). The shelf extends over 100 μm toward the vacuum side, with a nonstationary potential barrier forming in that area. Electrons reflected from the barrier gain superponderomotive energy from the potential. Some electrons experience an even greater energy gain due to ponderomotive acceleration when their “dephasing rate” $$R = γ – p_{x}/m_{e}c$$ drops well below unity, thus increasing acceleration by a factor of 1/$$R$$. Furthermore, both 1D and 2D simulations indicate that these mechanisms are responsible for the generation of extensive thermal distributions with $$T_{e}$$ > 10 MeV and a high-energy cutoff of hundreds of MeV.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344; NA0000870; FG02-05ER54834; FC02-04ER54789; NA0002008; FG02-04ER54742; FG02- 04ER54742

OSTI ID:: 1579609

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1247076

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-799339; PRLTAO; 833827; TRN: US2102233

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 15; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 39 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (39)

Electron Self-Injection into an Evolving Plasma Bubble: The Way to a Dark Current Free GeV-Scale Laser Accelerator Kalmykov, S. Y.; Beck, A.; Yi, S. A. ADVANCED ACCELERATOR CONCEPTS: 14th Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3520309	conference	January 2010
Hot Electron Temperature and Coupling Efficiency Scaling with Prepulse for Cone-Guided Fast Ignition Ma, T.; Sawada, H.; Patel, P. K. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.115004	journal	March 2012
OMEGA EP high-energy petawatt laser: progress and prospects Maywar, D. N.; Kelly, J. H.; Waxer, L. J. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 112, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/112/3/032007	journal	May 2008
Hamiltonian analysis of electron self-injection and acceleration into an evolving plasma bubble Yi, S. A.; Khudik, V.; Kalmykov, S. Y. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 53, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/53/1/014012	journal	December 2010
Electron Temperature Scaling in Laser Interaction with Solids Kluge, T.; Cowan, T.; Debus, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.205003	journal	November 2011
Particle acceleration in relativistic laser channels Pukhov, A.; Sheng, Z. -M.; Meyer-ter-Vehn, J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 6, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.873242	journal	July 1999
Optics in the relativistic regime Mourou, Gerard A.; Tajima, Toshiki; Bulanov, Sergei V. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 78, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.78.309	journal	April 2006
Mechanism of generating fast electrons by an intense laser at a steep overdense interface May, J.; Tonge, J.; Fiuza, F. Physical Review E, Vol. 84, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.025401	journal	August 2011
Laser plasma accelerators Malka, V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3695389	journal	May 2012
J×B heating by very intense laser light Kruer, W. L.; Estabrook, Kent Physics of Fluids, Vol. 28, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.865171	journal	January 1985
10-kJ PW laser for the FIREX-I program Miyanaga, N.; Azechi, H.; Tanaka, K. A. Journal de Physique IV (Proceedings), Vol. 133 https://doi.org/10.1051/jp4:2006133016	journal	June 2006
Interaction Physics of Multipicosecond Petawatt Laser Pulses with Overdense Plasma Kemp, A. J.; Divol, L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.195005	journal	November 2012
Parametric Amplification of Laser-Driven Electron Acceleration in Underdense Plasma Arefiev, Alexey V.; Breizman, Boris N.; Schollmeier, Marius Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.145004	journal	April 2012
Absorption of ultra-intense laser pulses Wilks, S. C.; Kruer, W. L.; Tabak, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1383	journal	August 1992
Commissioning and early experiments of the PHELIX facility Bagnoud, V.; Aurand, B.; Blazevic, A. Applied Physics B, Vol. 100, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-009-3855-7	journal	December 2009
Stochastic Heating and Acceleration of Electrons in Colliding Laser Fields in Plasma Sheng, Z. -M.; Mima, K.; Sentoku, Y. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.055004	journal	January 2002
Temporal resolution criterion for correctly simulating relativistic electron motion in a high-intensity laser field Arefiev, Alexey V.; Cochran, Ginevra E.; Schumacher, Douglass W. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905523	journal	January 2015
Particle acceleration in a relativistic wave in the adiabatic regime Mora, P. Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics, Vol. 4, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860071	journal	June 1992
Electron self-injection into an evolving plasma bubble: Quasi-monoenergetic laser-plasma acceleration in the blowout regime Kalmykov, S. Y.; Beck, A.; Yi, S. A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3566062	journal	May 2011
Laser Electron Accelerator Tajima, T.; Dawson, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.267	journal	July 1979
Hot surface ionic line emission and cold K-inner shell emission from petawatt-laser-irradiated Cu foil targets Theobald, W.; Akli, K.; Clarke, R. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2188912	journal	April 2006
Numerical modeling of fast electron generation in the presence of preformed plasma in laser-matter interaction at relativistic intensities Paradkar, B. S.; Wei, M. S.; Yabuuchi, T. Physical Review E, Vol. 83, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.046401	journal	April 2011
The effect of superluminal phase velocity on electron acceleration in a powerful electromagnetic wave Robinson, A. P. L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Khudik, V. N. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928893	journal	August 2015
Development of the PETawatt Aquitaine Laser system and new perspectives in physics Batani, D.; Koenig, M.; Miquel, J. L. Physica Scripta, Vol. T161 https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-8949/2014/T161/014016	journal	May 2014
Contemporary particle-in-cell approach to laser-plasma modelling Arber, T. D.; Bennett, K.; Brady, C. S. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 57, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/57/11/113001	journal	September 2015
Enhancement of laser-driven electron acceleration in an ion channel Arefiev, Alexey V.; Khudik, Vladimir N.; Schollmeier, Marius Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867491	journal	March 2014
Dynamics of Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction on Solid Targets Ping, Y.; Kemp, A. J.; Divol, L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.145006	journal	October 2012
Mechanism of heating of pre-formed plasma electrons in relativistic laser-matter interaction Paradkar, B. S.; Krasheninnikov, S. I.; Beg, F. N. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4731731	journal	June 2012
Universal scaling of the electron distribution function in one-dimensional simulations of relativistic laser-plasma interactions Sherlock, M. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3240341	journal	October 2009
Generating “Superponderomotive” Electrons due to a Non-Wake-Field Interaction between a Laser Pulse and a Longitudinal Electric Field Robinson, A. P. L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Neely, D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.065002	journal	August 2013
Development of the indirect‐drive approach to inertial confinement fusion and the target physics basis for ignition and gain Lindl, John Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 2, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871025	journal	November 1995
Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators Esarey, E.; Schroeder, C. B.; Leemans, W. P. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1229	journal	August 2009
Limitation on Prepulse Level for Cone-Guided Fast-Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion MacPhee, A. G.; Divol, L.; Kemp, A. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.055002	journal	February 2010
Hot-electron energy coupling in ultraintense laser-matter interaction Kemp, A. J.; Sentoku, Y.; Tabak, M. Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066406	journal	June 2009
Progress on converting a NIF quad to eight, petawatt beams for advanced radiography Crane, J. K.; Tietbohl, G.; Arnold, P. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 244, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/244/3/032003	journal	August 2010
Laser Plasma Accelerators Malka, V. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1112.5054	preprint	January 2011
Generation of 'Super-Ponderomotive' Electrons due to a non-Wakefield interaction between a Laser Pulse and a Longitudinal Electric Field Robinson, A. P. L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Neely, D. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1303.0233	text	January 2013
Enhancement of laser-driven electron acceleration in an ion channel Arefiev, Alexey V.; Khudik, Vladimir N.; Schollmeier, Marius arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1308.6825	text	January 2013
Temporal resolution criterion for correctly simulating relativistic electron motion in a high-intensity laser field Arefiev, Alexey V.; Cochran, Ginevra E.; Schumacher, Douglass W. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1410.8491	text	January 2014

Cited By (29)

Particle-in-cell simulations of laser–plasma interactions at solid densities and relativistic intensities: the role of atomic processes Wu, D.; He, X. T.; Yu, W. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, Vol. 6 https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2018.41	journal	January 2018
Plasma density limits for hole boring by intense laser pulses Iwata, Natsumi; Kojima, Sadaoki; Sentoku, Yasuhiko Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02829-5	journal	February 2018
Time-resolved measurements of fast electron recirculation for relativistically intense femtosecond scale laser-plasma interactions Green, J. S.; Booth, N.; Dance, R. J. Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22422-6	journal	March 2018
Electromagnetic field growth triggering super-ponderomotive electron acceleration during multi-picosecond laser-plasma interaction Kojima, Sadaoki; Hata, Masayasu; Iwata, Natsumi Communications Physics, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-019-0197-6	journal	August 2019
Universal scalings for laser acceleration of electrons in ion channels Khudik, Vladimir; Arefiev, Alexey; Zhang, Xi Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4964901	journal	October 2016
Breaking of dynamical adiabaticity in direct laser acceleration of electrons Robinson, A. P. L.; Arefiev, A. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4975076	journal	February 2017
Interaction of an electron with coherent dipole radiation: Role of convergence and anti-dephasing Robinson, A. P. L.; Arefiev, A. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5024049	journal	May 2018
Computational modeling of proton acceleration with multi-picosecond and high energy, kilojoule, lasers Kim, J.; Kemp, A. J.; Wilks, S. C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5040410	journal	August 2018
First demonstration of ARC-accelerated proton beams at the National Ignition Facility Mariscal, D.; Ma, T.; Wilks, S. C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5085787	journal	April 2019
On the non-thermal nature of distributions of electrons accelerated by high intensity lasers at the vacuum-plasma interface Hüller, S.; Porzio, A.; Adam, J. -C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5111934	journal	August 2019
Laser reflection as a catalyst for direct laser acceleration in multipicosecond laser-plasma interaction Weichman, K.; Robinson, A. P. L.; Beg, F. N. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5129054	journal	January 2020
The controllable electron-heating by external magnetic fields at relativistic laser-solid interactions in the presence of large scale pre-plasmas Wu, D.; Luan, S. X.; Wang, J. W. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 59, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/aa69a9	journal	April 2017
Extremely intense laser-based electron acceleration in a plasma channel Vranic, Marija; Fonseca, Ricardo A.; Silva, Luis O. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 60, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/aaa36c	journal	January 2018
Effects of resistive magnetic instability and electron refluxing on fast electron dynamics and bremsstrahlung radiation characteristics in relativistic laser-solid interaction Ren, Jieru; Wu, Dong; Hoffmann, Dieter H. H. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 61, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab3473	journal	August 2019
Plasma expansion accompanying superthermal electrons in over-picosecond relativistic laser-foil interactions Iwata, Natsumi; Sentoku, Yasuhiko; Sano, Takayoshi Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab4d02	journal	October 2019
Enhanced proton acceleration in an applied longitudinal magnetic field Arefiev, A.; Toncian, T.; Fiksel, G. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/18/10/105011	journal	October 2016
Investigation of laser pulse length and pre-plasma scale length impact on hot electron generation on OMEGA-EP Peebles, J.; Wei, M. S.; Arefiev, A. V. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 19, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa5a21	journal	February 2017
The unexpected role of evolving longitudinal electric fields in generating energetic electrons in relativistically transparent plasmas Willingale, L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Williams, G. J. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 20, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aae034	journal	September 2018
High-flux high-energy ion beam production from stable collisionless shock acceleration by intense petawatt-picosecond laser pulses He, H.; Qiao, B.; Shen, X. F. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 21, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab0a8c	journal	March 2019
Proton beam emittance growth in multipicosecond laser-solid interactions Campbell, Paul T.; Canning, D.; Hussein, A. E. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 21, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab4721	journal	October 2019
Energy absorption and coupling to electrons in the transition from surface- to volume-dominant intense laser–plasma interaction regimes Williamson, S. D. R.; Gray, R. J.; King, M. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 22, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab86df	journal	May 2020
Broadening of cyclotron resonance conditions in the relativistic interaction of an intense laser with overdense plasmas Sano, Takayoshi; Tanaka, Yuki; Iwata, Natsumi Physical Review E, Vol. 96, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.96.043209	journal	October 2017
Particle-in-cell simulations of laser–plasma interactions at solid densities and relativistic intensities: the role of atomic processes Wu, D.; He, X. T.; Yu, W. GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, GSI, Darmstadt https://doi.org/10.15120/gsi-2018-00994	text	January 2018
Energy absorption and coupling to electrons in the transition from surface- to volume-dominant intense laser–plasma interaction regimes Williamson, S. D. R.; Gray, R. J.; King, M. GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, GSI, Darmstadt https://doi.org/10.15120/gsi-2020-00920	text	January 2020
Universal scalings for laser acceleration of electrons in ion channels Khudik, Vladimir; Arefiev, Alexey; Zhang, Xi arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1603.04757	text	January 2016
Enhanced proton acceleration in an applied longitudinal magnetic field Arefiev, Alexey; Toncian, Toma; Fiksel, Gennady arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1607.01868	text	January 2016
Broadening of Cyclotron Resonance Conditions in the Relativistic Interaction of an Intense Laser with Overdense Plasmas Sano, Takayoshi; Tanaka, Yuki; Iwata, Natsumi arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1710.00099	text	January 2017
The Unexpected Role of Evolving Longitudinal Electric Fields in Generating Energetic Electrons in Relativistically Transparent Plasmas Willingale, L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Williams, G. J. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1808.08269	text	January 2018
High-angle Deflection of the Energetic Electrons by a Voluminous Magnetic Structure in Near-normal Intense Laser-plasma Interactions Peebles, J.; Arefiev, A. V.; Zhang, S. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1810.02398	text	January 2018

Similar Records

Laser reflection as a catalyst for direct laser acceleration in multipicosecond laser-plasma interaction

Journal Article · Mon Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1579609

Weichman, K.; Robinson, A. P. L.; Beg, F. N.; +1 more

Production of relativistic electrons at subrelativistic laser intensities

Journal Article · Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Physical Review E · OSTI ID:1579609

Williams, G. J.; Link, A.; Sherlock, M.; +34 more

The unexpected role of evolving longitudinal electric fields in generating energetic electrons in relativistically transparent plasmas

Journal Article · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · New Journal of Physics · OSTI ID:1579609

Willingale, L.; Arefiev, A. V.; Williams, G. J.; +9 more

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Title: Generation of Superponderomotive Electrons in Multipicosecond Interactions of Kilojoule Laser Beams with Solid-Density Plasmas

Citation Formats

References (39)

Cited By (29)

Similar Records

Related Subjects