High energy electrons and nuclear phenomena in petawatt laser-solid experiments

Journal Article · Mon Jul 12 00:00:00 EDT 1999 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.58855· OSTI ID:21205376

Cowan, T E; Ditmire, T; Hatchett, S; Pennington, D M; Perry, M D; Phillips, T W; Wilks, S C; Young, P E ^[1]; Dong, B; Takahashi, Y ^[2]; Fountain, W; Parnell, T ^[3]; Hunt, A W ^[4]; Johnson, J ^[5]; Kuehl, T ^[6]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California (United States)
2. University of Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama (United States)
3. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama (United States)
4. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States)
5. University Space Research Association, Huntsville, Alabama (United States)
6. Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany)

The Petawatt laser at LLNL has opened a new regime of laser-matter interactions in which the quiver motion of plasma electrons is fully relativistic with energies extending well above the threshold for nuclear processes. We have developed broad-band magnetic spectrometers to measure the spectrum of high-energy electrons produced in laser-solid target experiments at the Petawatt, and have found that in addition to the expected flux of {approx}few MeV electrons characteristic of the ponderomotive potential, there is a high energy component extending to {approx}100 MeV apparently from plasma acceleration in the underdense pre-formed plasma. The generation of hard bremsstrahlung, photo-nuclear reactions, and preliminary evidence for positron-electron pair production will be discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21205376
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 472, Issue 1; Conference: 8. workshop on advanced accelerator concepts, Baltimore, MD (United States), 6-11 Jul 1998; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.58855; (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
ELECTRON SPECTRA
ELECTRONS
LASER TARGETS
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
MAGNETIC SPECTROMETERS
MEV RANGE
PAIR PRODUCTION
PETAWATT POWER RANGE
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA PRODUCTION
PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE
POSITRONS
POTENTIALS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SOLID STATE LASERS