Ultra-bright XUV emission from laser wakefields in underdense plasma

Journal Article · Fri Dec 21 04:00:00 EST 2012 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773785· OSTI ID:22075914

Yue, Liu; Sheng, Z M; Zheng, J; Li, F Y; Xu, X L; Lu, W; Mori, W B; Liu, C S; Zhang, J ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China)

By use of particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, we observe ultra-bright XUV radiation pulses emerging from a laser wakefield driven above the wave-breaking threshold in underdense plasma, which is as short as a few hundred attoseconds in one-dimentsional simulations and a few femtoseconds in two-dimensional simulations. It is concerned with the formation of a transverse narrow current layer co-moving with the intense laser pulse. This current layer is formed by an electron density spike with trapped electrons in the wakefield with certain transverse kinetic momentum of electrons left behind the laser pulse. This net momentum appears when the driving laser pulse undergoes strong selfmodulation and subsequent pulse steepening at the front. In the multi-dimensional simulations, the XUV emission is found only near the laser axis with a much smaller spot size than the laser pulse due to the transverse dynamics of the trapped electrons. The present scheme provides an alternative method to produce ultra-bright XUV pulses for ultrafast applications.

• OSTI ID: 22075914
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1507; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
LASERS
LAYERS
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
TRAPPED ELECTRONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS