Plasma dynamics near critical density inferred from direct measurements of laser hole boring

Gong, Chao; Tochitsky, Sergei Ya.; Fiuza, Frederico; Pigeon, Jeremy J.; Joshi, Chan

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.93.061202

Title: Plasma dynamics near critical density inferred from direct measurements of laser hole boring

Journal Article · 24 June 2017 · Physical Review E

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.93.061202 · OSTI ID:1389949

Gong, Chao ^[1]; Tochitsky, Sergei Ya. ^[1]; Fiuza, Frederico ^[2]; Pigeon, Jeremy J. ^[1]; Joshi, Chan ^[1]

Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Electrical Engineering Dept.
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Here, we use multiframe picosecond optical interferometry to make direct measurements of the hole boring velocity, vHB, of the density cavity pushed forward by a train of CO₂ laser pulses in a near critical density helium plasma. As the pulse train intensity rises, the increasing radiation pressure of each pulse pushes the density cavity forward and the plasma electrons are strongly heated. After the peak laser intensity, the plasma pressure exerted by the heated electrons strongly impedes the hole boring process and the vHB falls rapidly as the laser pulse intensity falls at the back of the laser pulse train. We present a heuristic theory that allows the estimation of the plasma electron temperature from the measurements of the hole boring velocity. Furthermore, the measured values of v_HB, and the estimated values of the heated electron temperature as a function of laser intensity are in reasonable agreement with those obtained from two-dimensional numerical simulations.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344; NA0002950; SC0010064

OSTI ID:: 1389949

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1259336; OSTI ID: 1364530

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-737704; PLEEE8

Journal Information:: Physical Review E, Vol. 93, Issue 6; ISSN 2470-0045

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 5 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (24)

A high-power laser fusion facility for Europe Dunne, Mike Nature Physics, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys208	journal	January 2006
Picosecond X-Ray Laser Interferometry of Dense Plasmas Smith, R. F.; Dunn, J.; Nilsen, J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.065004	journal	July 2002
Ignition and high gain with ultrapowerful lasers Tabak, Max; Hammer, James; Glinsky, Michael E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 1, Issue 5, p. 1626-1634 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.870664	journal	May 1994
Fifteen terawatt picosecond CO_2 laser system Haberberger, D.; Tochitsky, S.; Joshi, C. Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.017865	journal	January 2010
Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma interaction Macchi, Andrea; Borghesi, Marco; Passoni, Matteo Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 85, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.85.751	journal	May 2013
Dynamics of Laser-Plasma Interaction at 10 18 W/ cm 2 Kalashnikov, M. P.; Nickles, P. V.; Schlegel, Th. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 73, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.260	journal	July 1994
Fast heating scalable to laser fusion ignition Kodama, R.; Shiraga, H.; Shigemori, K. Nature, Vol. 418, Issue 6901 https://doi.org/10.1038/418933a	journal	August 2002
Monoenergetic Proton Beams Accelerated by a Radiation Pressure Driven Shock Palmer, Charlotte A. J.; Dover, N. P.; Pogorelsky, I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.014801	journal	January 2011
Effect of the laser pulse temporal shape on the hole boring efficiency Mironov, V.; Zharova, N.; d'Humières, E. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 54, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/54/9/095008	journal	July 2012
Anomalous Energy Transport to Rear Surface of Microdisks at High Laser Irradiances Ebrahim, N. A.; Joshi, C.; Villeneuve, D. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 27 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.1995	journal	December 1979
Self-Steepening of the Density Profile of a C O 2 -Laser-Produced Plasma Fedosejevs, R.; Tomov, I. V.; Burnett, N. H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.39.932	journal	October 1977
Interferometric Confirmation of Radiation-Pressure Effects in Laser-Plasma Interactions Attwood, D. T.; Sweeney, D. W.; Auerbach, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.40.184	journal	January 1978
Measurements of the hole boring velocity from Doppler shifted harmonic emission from solid targets Zepf, M.; Castro‐Colin, M.; Chambers, D. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 3, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871606	journal	September 1996
Dynamics of Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction on Solid Targets Ping, Y.; Kemp, A. J.; Divol, L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.145006	journal	October 2012
A model of anomalous absorption, backscatter, and flux limitation in laser-produced plasmas Colombant, D. G.; Manheimer, Wallace M. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 23, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.862953	journal	January 1980
Ion acceleration from laser-driven electrostatic shocks Fiuza, F.; Stockem, A.; Boella, E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4801526	journal	May 2013
Accelerating piston action and plasma heating in high-energy density laser plasma interactions Levy, M. C.; Wilks, S. C.; Baring, M. G. High Energy Density Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2012.12.005	journal	March 2013
Competition between ponderomotive and thermal forces in short-scale-length laser plasmas Liu, X.; Umstadter, D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1935	journal	September 1992
Return‐current electron streams in high‐intensity laser target interaction Jaanimagi, P. A.; Ebrahim, N. A.; Burnett, N. H. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 38, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.92169	journal	May 1981
Not-so-resonant, resonant absorption Brunel, F. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 59, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.59.52	journal	July 1987
OSIRIS: A Three-Dimensional, Fully Relativistic Particle in Cell Code for Modeling Plasma Based Accelerators Fonseca, R. A.; Silva, L. O.; Tsung, F. S. Computational Science — ICCS 2002, p. 342-351 https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47789-6_36	book	January 2002
Absorption of ultra-intense laser pulses Wilks, S. C.; Kruer, W. L.; Tabak, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1383	journal	August 1992
Weibel-Instability-Mediated Collisionless Shocks in the Laboratory with Ultraintense Lasers Fiuza, F.; Fonseca, R. A.; Tonge, J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.235004	journal	June 2012
Collisionless shocks in laser-produced plasma generate monoenergetic high-energy proton beams Haberberger, Dan; Tochitsky, Sergei; Fiuza, Frederico Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2130	journal	November 2011

Cited By (2)

Particle-in-cell simulations of density peak formation and ion heating from short pulse laser-driven ponderomotive steepening Smith, Joseph R.; Orban, Chris; Ngirmang, Gregory K. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5108811	journal	December 2019
Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Density Peak Formation and Ion Acceleration from Short Pulse Laser-Driven Ponderomotive Steepening Smith, Joseph R.; Orban, Chris; Ngirmang, Gregory K. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1905.00888	text	January 2019