Enhanced electron acceleration by high-intensity lasers in extended (confined) preplasma in cone targets

Rusby, D. R.; Cochran, G. E.; Aghedo, A.; Albert, F.; Armstrong, C. D.; Haid, A.; Kemp, A. J.; Kerr, S. M.; King, P. M.; Lemos, N.; Manuel, M. J.-E.; Ma, T.; MacPhee, A. G.; Pagano, I.; Pak, A.; Scott, G. G.; Siders, C. W.; Simpson, R. A.; Sinclair, M.; Wilks, S. C.; Williams, G. J.; Mackinnon, A. J.

doi:10.1063/5.0127580

Title: Enhanced electron acceleration by high-intensity lasers in extended (confined) preplasma in cone targets

Journal Article · Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0127580· OSTI ID:1973193

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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States)
Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
General Atomics, La Jolla, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States); University of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
University of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States)
University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

Here we report on experimental results from a high-intensity laser interaction with cone targets that increase the number (×3) and temperature (×3) of the measured hot electrons over a traditional planar target. This increase is caused by a substantial increase in the plasma density within the cone target geometry, which was induced by 17 ± 9 mJ prepulse that arrived 1.5 ns prior to the main high intensity (>10¹⁹ W/cm²). Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations are conducted using hydra which show that the cone targets create substantially longer and denser plasma than planar targets due to the geometric confinement of the expanding plasma. The density within the cone is a several hundred-micron plasma “shelf” with a density of approximately 10²⁰ n_e/cc. The HYDRA simulated plasma densities are used as the initial conditions for two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations using EPOCH. These simulations show that the main acceleration mechanism is direct-laser-acceleration, with close agreement between experimentally measured and simulated electron temperatures. Further analysis is conducted to investigate the acceleration of the electrons within the long plasma generated within a compound parabolic concentrator by the prepulse.

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; General Atomic

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344; SC0019167; SCW1575–1; NA0001808; 19-SI-002; No. SCW1575-1

OSTI ID:: 1973193

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1923823

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-839661; 1060031; TRN: US2313871

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 30, Issue 2; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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