Effects of laser polarizations on shock generation and shock ion acceleration in overdense plasmas.
Phys Rev E 2016;
94:033211. [PMID:
27739790 DOI:
10.1103/physreve.94.033211]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The effects of laser-pulse polarization on the generation of an electrostatic shock in an overdense plasma were investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. We found, from one-dimensional simulations, that total and average energies of reflected ions from a circular polarization- (CP) driven shock front are a few times higher than those from a linear polarization- (LP) driven one for a given pulse energy. Moreover, it was discovered that the pulse transmittance is the single dominant factor for determining the CP-shock formation, while the LP shock is affected by the plasma scale length as well as the transmittance. In two-dimensional simulations, it is observed that the transverse instability, such as Weibel-like instability, can be suppressed more efficiently by CP pulses.
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