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Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime
Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 1990s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low repetition rate. Here, we present measurements on the interaction of ultraintense , ultrashort Ti:Sa laser pulses with near-critical helium gas jets, a debris-free targetry with the potential for future compatibility with high repetition rate operation. We provide evidence of particles being forward accelerated up to energy with a total flux of as integrated over energies and detected within a solid angle. We also report on on-axis emission of relativistic electrons with an exponentially decaying spectrum characterized by a slope, i.e., five times larger than the standard ponderomotive scaling. The total charge of these electrons with energy above 2 MeV is estimated to be of , corresponding to of the laser drive energy. In addition, we observe the formation of a plasma channel, extending longitudinally across the gas density maximum and expanding radially with time. These results are well captured by large-scale particle-in-cell simulations, which reveal that the detected fast ions most likely originate from reflection off the rapidly expanding channel walls. The latter process is predicted to yield ion energies in the MeV range, which compare well with the measurements. Finally, direct laser acceleration is shown to be the dominant mechanism behind the observed electron energization.
Ospina-Bohórquez, V., et al. "Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime." Physical Review Research, vol. 6, no. 2, Jun. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023268
Ospina-Bohórquez, V., Salgado-López, C., Ehret, M., Malko, S., Salvadori, M., Pisarczyk, T., Chodukowski, T., Rusiniak, Z., Krupka, M., Guillon, P., Lendrin, M., Pérez-Callejo, G., Vlachos, C., Hannachi, F., Tarisien, M., Consoli, F., Verona, C., Prestopino, G., ... Santos, J. J. (2024). Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime. Physical Review Research, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023268
Ospina-Bohórquez, V., Salgado-López, C., Ehret, M., et al., "Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime," Physical Review Research 6, no. 2 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023268
@article{osti_2371730,
author = {Ospina-Bohórquez, V. and Salgado-López, C. and Ehret, M. and Malko, S. and Salvadori, M. and Pisarczyk, T. and Chodukowski, T. and Rusiniak, Z. and Krupka, M. and Guillon, P. and others},
title = {Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime},
annote = { Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 1990s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low repetition rate. Here, we present measurements on the interaction of ultraintense ( ≈ 10 20 W cm − 2 , 1 PW ) , ultrashort ( ≈ 70 fs ) Ti:Sa laser pulses with near-critical ( ≈ 10 20 cm − 3 ) helium gas jets, a debris-free targetry with the potential for future compatibility with high ( ≈ 1 Hz ) repetition rate operation. We provide evidence of α particles being forward accelerated up to ≈ 2.7 − MeV energy with a total flux of ≈ 10 11 sr − 1 as integrated over > 0.1 − MeV energies and detected within a 0.5 − mrad solid angle. We also report on on-axis emission of relativistic electrons with an exponentially decaying spectrum characterized by a ≈ 10 − MeV slope, i.e., five times larger than the standard ponderomotive scaling. The total charge of these electrons with energy above 2 MeV is estimated to be of ≈ 1 nC , corresponding to ≈ 0.1 % of the laser drive energy. In addition, we observe the formation of a plasma channel, extending longitudinally across the gas density maximum and expanding radially with time. These results are well captured by large-scale particle-in-cell simulations, which reveal that the detected fast ions most likely originate from reflection off the rapidly expanding channel walls. The latter process is predicted to yield ion energies in the MeV range, which compare well with the measurements. Finally, direct laser acceleration is shown to be the dominant mechanism behind the observed electron energization. Published by the American Physical Society 2024 },
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023268},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/2371730},
journal = {Physical Review Research},
issn = {ISSN 2643-1564},
number = {2},
volume = {6},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Physical Society},
year = {2024},
month = {06}}
European Union Horizon 2020; French National Research Agency (ANR); Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 183, Issue 3-4, p. 449-458https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-583X(01)00771-6
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Ziegler, James F.; Ziegler, M. D.; Biersack, J. P.
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