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Title: Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus

Abstract

We report an experimental-computational study of the optical properties of plasma mirrors (PMs) at the incident laser frequency when irradiated directly at relativistic intensity (10180<1019W/cm2) by near-normally incident (4°), high-contrast, 30 fs, 800 nm laser pulses. We find that such relativistic PMs are highly reflective (0.6–0.8) and focus a significant fraction of reflected light to intensity as large as ~10I0 at distance f as small as ~25 μm from the PM, provided that pre-pulses do not exceed 1014 W/cm2 prior to ~20 ps before arrival of the main pulse peak. Particle-in-cell simulations show that focusing results from denting of the reflecting surface by light pressure combined with relativistic transparency and that reflectivity and f can be adjusted by controlling pre-plasma length L over the range 0.5 ≲L ≲ 3 μm. Pump-probe reflectivity measurements show that the PM's focusing properties evolve on a ps time scale.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Physics Dept.
  2. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Inst. for Fusion Studies and Center for High Energy Density Science
  3. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Physics Dept. and Inst. for Fusion Studies
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
OSTI Identifier:
1361715
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1420500; OSTI ID: 1425378
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012444; SC0011617; FA9550-14-1-0045; SC0007889; SC001062; 2; FC52-08NA28512; NA0002008; FG02-04ER54742; EP/G054940/1; EP/G055165/1; EP/G056803/1; AC05-06OR23100
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Volume: 24 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Scattering; Spectroscopy; Time resolved spectroscopy; Ionization; Reflectivity; Optical elements; Ultrafast spectroscopy; Chemical analysis; Time measurement; Optical metrology

Citation Formats

Tsai, Hai-En, Arefiev, Alexey V., Shaw, Joseph M., Stark, David J., Wang, Xiaoming, Zgadzaj, Rafal, and Downer, M. C. Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4973432.
Tsai, Hai-En, Arefiev, Alexey V., Shaw, Joseph M., Stark, David J., Wang, Xiaoming, Zgadzaj, Rafal, & Downer, M. C. Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973432
Tsai, Hai-En, Arefiev, Alexey V., Shaw, Joseph M., Stark, David J., Wang, Xiaoming, Zgadzaj, Rafal, and Downer, M. C. Wed . "Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973432.
@article{osti_1361715,
title = {Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus},
author = {Tsai, Hai-En and Arefiev, Alexey V. and Shaw, Joseph M. and Stark, David J. and Wang, Xiaoming and Zgadzaj, Rafal and Downer, M. C.},
abstractNote = {We report an experimental-computational study of the optical properties of plasma mirrors (PMs) at the incident laser frequency when irradiated directly at relativistic intensity (10180<1019W/cm2) by near-normally incident (4°), high-contrast, 30 fs, 800 nm laser pulses. We find that such relativistic PMs are highly reflective (0.6–0.8) and focus a significant fraction of reflected light to intensity as large as ~10I0 at distance f as small as ~25 μm from the PM, provided that pre-pulses do not exceed 1014 W/cm2 prior to ~20 ps before arrival of the main pulse peak. Particle-in-cell simulations show that focusing results from denting of the reflecting surface by light pressure combined with relativistic transparency and that reflectivity and f can be adjusted by controlling pre-plasma length L over the range 0.5 ≲L ≲ 3 μm. Pump-probe reflectivity measurements show that the PM's focusing properties evolve on a ps time scale.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4973432},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 1,
volume = 24,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Wed Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973432

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Optimizing the energies conversion in laser-electron beam collision
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Generation of bright γ-ray/hard x-ray flash with intense femtosecond pulses and double-layer targets
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Highly efficient laser-driven Compton gamma-ray source
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