Hot Electrons Transverse Refluxing in Ultraintense Laser-Solid Interactions

Journal Article · Fri Jul 02 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.015005· OSTI ID:21410461

Buffechoux, S ^[1]; Psikal, J ^[2]; Nakatsutsumi, M; Mancic, A; Audebert, P; Fuchs, J ^[1]; Romagnani, L; Sarri, G; Borghesi, M ^[3]; Andreev, A ^[4]; Zeil, K; Burris-Mog, T; Gaillard, S; Kraft, S; Schramm, U; Cowan, T E ^[5]; Amin, M; Toncian, T; Willi, O ^[6]; Antici, P ^[7]

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1. LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau (France)
2. CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, 351 Cours de la Liberation, 33405 Talence (France)
3. Centre for Plasma Physics, The Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
4. Max Born Institute, Berlin D-12489 (Germany)
5. Forschsungszentrum Dresden Rossendorf, Postfach 510119, 01314 Dresden (Germany)
6. Institut fuer Laser und Plasma Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf, Universitaetstrasse 1, 40225 Duesseldorf (Germany)
7. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Via E. Fermi, 40-00044 Frascati, Italy and ILE-Ecole Polytechnique-CNRS-ENSTA-Iogs-UP Sud, Batterie de l'Yvette, 91761 Palaiseau (France)

We have analyzed the coupling of ultraintense lasers (at {approx}2x10{sup 19} W/cm{sup 2}) with solid foils of limited transverse extent ({approx}10 s of {mu}m) by monitoring the electrons and ions emitted from the target. We observe that reducing the target surface area allows electrons at the target surface to be reflected from the target edges during or shortly after the laser pulse. This transverse refluxing can maintain a hotter, denser and more homogeneous electron sheath around the target for a longer time. Consequently, when transverse refluxing takes places within the acceleration time of associated ions, we observe increased maximum proton energies (up to threefold), increased laser-to-ion conversion efficiency (up to a factor 30), and reduced divergence which bodes well for a number of applications.

• OSTI ID: 21410461
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.015005; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CONVERSION
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON EMISSION
ELECTRONS
INTERACTIONS
ION EMISSION
IONS
LASERS
MONITORING
PROTONS
PULSES
SOLIDS
SURFACE AREA
SURFACES
BARYONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EMISSION
FERMIONS
HADRONS
LEPTONS
NUCLEONS
SURFACE PROPERTIES