Appearance of Density Cavitations in the Laser Wake in Simulations of High Intensity Laser-Plasma Interactions

Journal Article · Thu Jan 22 00:00:00 EST 2009 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3080912· OSTI ID:21255226

Wang, T -L ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical Engineering University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)

Nonlinear interactions of high intensity, ultrashort laser pulses with underdense plasmas produce many interesting features that may appear in computer simulations. One of these features commonly observed in Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations is the spontaneous appearance of long-lived density cavitations in the plasma wake region behind the laser pulse. To study these cavitations, several small 2D PIC simulations are run in which plasma density, density ramps, total simulation time, laser pulsewidth, laser intensity, and laser polarization parameters have been varied. Based on the simulation results, some possible aspects of an experiment designed to directly detect these structures are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21255226
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1086, Issue 1; Conference: 13. advanced accelerator concepts workshop, Santa Cruz, CA (United States), 27 Jul - 2 Aug 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3080912; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CAVITATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DENSITY
INTERACTIONS
LASERS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA PRODUCTION
POLARIZATION
PULSES
TURBULENCE
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS