Creation of persistent, straight, 2 mm long laser driven channels in underdense plasmas

Journal Article · Mon Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3505305· OSTI ID:21532020

Sarri, G; Borghesi, M ^[1]; Lancaster, K L ^[2]; Trines, R ^[2]; Clark, E L; Hassan, S; Tatarakis, M ^[3]; Jiang, J; Lopes, N; Russo, C; Davies, J R ^[4]; Kageiwa, N; Tanimoto, T; Tanaka, K A ^[5]; Ramis, R; Temporal, M ^[6]; Rehman, A; Najmudin, Z ^[7]; Ribeyre, X ^[8]; Scott, R H. H. ^[2]

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1. School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
2. STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX (United Kingdom)
3. Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Crete GR 710 04 (Greece)
4. GoLP, Instituto de Plasmas e FuSao Nuclear-Laboratorio Asociado, Istituto Superior Tecnico, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)
5. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)
6. ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040 (Spain)
7. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom)
8. Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, University of Bordeaux-I, CNRS, Bordeaux UMR 5107 (France)

The experimental study of the behavior of deuterium plasma with densities between 2x10{sup 18} and 2x10{sup 20} cm{sup -3}, subjected to a 6 TW, 30 ps, 3x10{sup 18} W cm{sup -2} laser pulse, is presented. Conclusive experimental proof that a single straight channel is generated when the laser pulse interacts with the lowest densities is provided. This channel shows no small-scale longitudinal density modulations, extends up to 2 mm in length and persists for up to 150 ps after the peak of the interaction. Bifurcation of the channel after 1 mm propagation distance is observed for the first time. For higher density interactions, above the relativistic self-focusing threshold, bubblelike structures are observed to form at late times. These observations have implications for both laser wakefield accelerators and fast ignition inertial fusion studies.

• OSTI ID: 21532020
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATORS
BIFURCATION
CONFINEMENT
DEUTERIUM
FOCUSING
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ICF DEVICES
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
ISOTOPES
LASERS
LIGHT NUCLEI
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
RELATIVISTIC PLASMA
SIMULATION
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS