Characterization of high-intensity laser propagation in the relativistic transparent regime through measurements of energetic proton beams

Laser Proton Acceleration from a Near-Critical Imploding Gas Target

The interaction between relativistic intense laser pulses and near-critical-density targets has been sought after in order to increase the efficiency of laser-plasma energy coupling, particularly for laser-driven proton acceleration. To achieve the density regime for high-repetition-rate applications, one elusive approach is to use gas targets, provided that stringent target density profile requirements are met. These include reaching the critical plasma density while maintaining micron-scale density gradients. In this Letter, we present a novel scheme for achieving the necessary requirements using optical laser pulses to transversely shape the target and create a colliding shock wave in both planar and cylindrical geometries. Utilizing this approach, we experimentally demonstrated stable proton acceleration and achieved up to 5 MeV in a monoenergetic distribution and particle numbers above 10^{8}  Sr^{-1} MeV^{-1} using a 1.5 J energy on-target laser pulse. The Letter also reports for the first time an extend series of 200 consecutive shots that demonstrates the robustness of the approach and its maturity for applications. These results open the door for future work in controlling gas targets and optimizing the acceleration process for more energetic multipetawatt laser systems.

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in the Strongly Relativistic Regime

Stable transport of laser beams in highly overdense plasmas is of significance in the fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion, relativistic electron generation, and powerful electromagnetic emission, but hard to realize. Early in 1996, Harris proposed an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) mechanism, analogous to the concept in atomic physics, to transport a low-frequency (LF) laser in overdense plasmas aided by a high-frequency pump laser. However, subsequent investigations show that EIT cannot occur in real plasmas with boundaries. Here, our particle-in-cell simulations show that EIT can occur in the strongly relativistic regime and result in stable propagation of a LF laser in bounded plasmas with tens of its critical density. A relativistic three-wave coupling model is developed, and the criteria and frequency passband for EIT occurrence are presented. The passband is sufficiently wide in the strongly relativistic regime, allowing EIT to work sustainably. Nevertheless, it is narrowed to nearly an isolated point in the weakly relativistic regime, which can explain the quenching of EIT in bounded plasmas found in previous investigations.

Undepleted direct laser acceleration

Intense lasers enable generating high-energy particle beams in university-scale laboratories. With the direct laser acceleration (DLA) method, the leading part of the laser pulse ionizes the target material and forms a positively charged ion plasma channel into which electrons are injected and accelerated. The high energy conversion efficiency of DLA makes it ideal for generating large numbers of photonuclear reactions. In this work, we reveal that, for efficient DLA to prevail, a target material of sufficiently high atomic number is required to maintain the injection of ionization electrons at the peak intensity of the pulse when the DLA channel is already formed. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that, when the atomic number is too low, the target is depleted of its ionization electrons prematurely. Applying this understanding to multi-petawatt laser experiments is expected to result in increased neutron yields, a perquisite for a wide range of research and applications.

Ultra-short pulse laser acceleration of protons to 80 MeV from cryogenic hydrogen jets tailored to near-critical density

Laser plasma-based particle accelerators attract great interest in fields where conventional accelerators reach limits based on size, cost or beam parameters. Despite the fact that particle in cell simulations have predicted several advantageous ion acceleration schemes, laser accelerators have not yet reached their full potential in producing simultaneous high-radiation doses at high particle energies. The most stringent limitation is the lack of a suitable high-repetition rate target that also provides a high degree of control of the plasma conditions required to access these advanced regimes. Here, we demonstrate that the interaction of petawatt-class laser pulses with a pre-formed micrometer-sized cryogenic hydrogen jet plasma overcomes these limitations enabling tailored density scans from the solid to the underdense regime. Our proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates that the near-critical plasma density profile produces proton energies of up to 80 MeV. Based on hydrodynamic and three-dimensional particle in cell simulations, transition between different acceleration schemes are shown, suggesting enhanced proton acceleration at the relativistic transparency front for the optimal case.

Ultra-intense laser field amplification from a petawatt-class laser focusing in moderate density plasma

The rapid development of laser technologies promises a significant growth of peak laser intensity from 10²² W/cm² to >10²³ W/cm², allowing the experimental studies of strong field quantum-electrodynamics physics and laser nuclear physics. Here, we propose a method to realize the ultra-intense laser field amplification of petawatt-class laser pulse in moderate density plasma via relativistic self-focusing and tapered-channel focusing. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that almost an order of magnitude enhancement of laser intensity is possible even though the γ-ray radiation results in massive laser energy loss. In particular, with a seed laser intensity of ∼10²³ W/cm², duration of 82.5 fs and power of 31 petawatt, one can obtain ∼10²⁴ W/cm² intensity and up to ∼60% energy conversion efficiency from the initial seed laser to the focused laser in plasma with density of 3.3 × 10²²/cm³. This may pave the way to the new research field of ultra-intense laser plasma interaction in the upcoming laser facilities.

A laser parameter study on enhancing proton generation from microtube foil targets

The interaction of an intense laser with a solid foil target can drive [Formula: see text] TV/m electric fields, accelerating ions to MeV energies. In this study, we experimentally observe that structured targets can dramatically enhance proton acceleration in the target normal sheath acceleration regime. At the Texas Petawatt Laser facility, we compared proton acceleration from a [Formula: see text] flat Ag foil, to a fixed microtube structure 3D printed on the front side of the same foil type. A pulse length (140-450 fs) and intensity ((4-10) [Formula: see text] W/cm[Formula: see text]) study found an optimum laser configuration (140 fs, 4 [Formula: see text] W/cm[Formula: see text]), in which microtube targets increase the proton cutoff energy by 50% and the yield of highly energetic protons ([Formula: see text] MeV) by a factor of 8[Formula: see text]. When the laser intensity reaches [Formula: see text] W/cm[Formula: see text], the prepulse shutters the microtubes with an overcritical plasma, damping their performance. 2D particle-in-cell simulations are performed, with and without the preplasma profile imported, to better understand the coupling of laser energy to the microtube targets. The simulations are in qualitative agreement with the experimental results, and show that the prepulse is necessary to account for when the laser intensity is sufficiently high.

Effects of the Transverse Instability and Wave Breaking on the Laser-Driven Thin Foil Acceleration

Acceleration of ultrathin foils by the laser radiation pressure promises a compact alternative to the conventional ion sources. Among the challenges on the way to practical realization, one fundamental is a strong transverse plasma instability, which develops density perturbations and breaks the acceleration. In this Letter, we develop a theoretical model supported by three-dimensional numerical simulations to explain the transverse instability growth from noise to wave breaking and its crucial effect on stopping the acceleration. The wave-broken nonlinear mode triggers rapid stochastic heating that finally explodes the target. Possible paths to mitigate this problem for getting efficient ion acceleration are discussed.

Proton sheet crossing in thin relativistic plasma irradiated by a femtosecond petawatt laser pulse

Leveraging on analyses of Hamiltonian dynamics to examine the ion motion, we explicitly demonstrate that the proton sheet crossing and plateau-type energy spectrum are two intrinsic features of the effectively accelerated proton beams driven by a drift quasistatic longitudinal electric field. Via two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show the emergence of proton sheet crossing in a relativistically transparent plasma foil irradiated by a linearly polarized short pulse with the power of one petawatt. Instead of successively blowing the whole foil forward, the incident laser pulse readily penetrates through the plasma bulk, where the proton sheet crossing takes place and the merged self-generated longitudinal electric field traps and reflects the protons to yield a group of protons with plateau-type energy spectrum.

Deflection of a reflected intense circularly polarized light beam induced by asymmetric radiation pressure

A deflection effect of an intense laser beam with spin angular momentum is revealed theoretically by an analytical modeling using radiation pressure and momentum balance of laser plasma interaction in the relativistic regime as a deviation from the law of reflection. The reflected beam deflects out of the plane of incidence with a deflection angle up to several milliradians, when a nonlinear polarized laser, with the intensity I_{0}∼10^{19}W/cm^{2} and duration around tens of femtoseconds, is obliquely incident and reflected by an overdense plasma target. This effect originates from the asymmetric radiation pressure caused by spin angular momentum of the laser photons. The dependence of the deflection angle of a Gaussian-type laser on the parameters of laser pulse and plasma foil is theoretically derived, which is also confirmed by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of circularly polarized laser beams with the different intensity and pulse duration.

Fields of a Bessel-Bessel light bullet of arbitrary order in an under-dense plasma

Considerable theoretical and experimental work has lately been focused on waves localized in time and space. In optics, waves of that nature are often referred to as light bullets. The most fascinating feature of light bullets is their propagation without appreciable distortion by diffraction or dispersion. Here, analytic expressions for the fields of an ultra-short, tightly-focused and arbitrary-order Bessel pulse are derived and discussed. Propagation in an under-dense plasma, responding linearly to the fields of the pulse, is assumed throughout. The derivation stems from wave equations satisfied by the vector and scalar potentials, themselves following from the appropriate Maxwell equations and linked by the Lorentz gauge. It is demonstrated that the fields represent well a pulse of axial extension, L, and waist radius at focus, w0, both of the order of the central wavelength λ0. As an example, to lowest approximation, the pulse of order l = 2 is shown to propagate undistorted for many centimeters, in vacuum as well as in the plasma. As such, the pulse behaves like a "light bullet" and is termed a "Bessel-Bessel bullet of arbitrary order". The field expressions will help to better understand light bullets and open up avenues for their utility in potential applications.

Channel optimization of high-intensity laser beams in millimeter-scale plasmas

Channeling experiments were performed at the OMEGA EP facility using relativistic intensity (>10^{18}W/cm^{2}) kilojoule laser pulses through large density scale length (∼390-570 μm) laser-produced plasmas, demonstrating the effects of the pulse's focal location and intensity as well as the plasma's temperature on the resulting channel formation. The results show deeper channeling when focused into hot plasmas and at lower densities, as expected. However, contrary to previous large-scale particle-in-cell studies, the results also indicate deeper penetration by short (10 ps), intense pulses compared to their longer-duration equivalents. This new observation has many implications for future laser-plasma research in the relativistic regime.

Ultra-intense laser interaction with nanostructured near-critical plasmas

Near-critical plasmas irradiated at ultra-high laser intensities (I > 10¹⁸W/cm²) allow to improve the performances of laser-driven particle and radiation sources and to explore scenarios of great astrophysical interest. Near-critical plasmas with controlled properties can be obtained with nanostructured low-density materials. By means of 3D Particle-In-Cell simulations, we investigate how realistic nanostructures influence the interaction of an ultra-intense laser with a plasma having a near-critical average electron density. We find that the presence of a nanostructure strongly reduces the effect of pulse polarization and enhances the energy absorbed by the ion population, while generally leading to a significant decrease of the electron temperature with respect to a homogeneous near-critical plasma. We also observe an effect of the nanostructure morphology. These results are relevant both for a fundamental understanding and for the foreseen applications of laser-plasma interaction in the near-critical regime.

Stimulated Raman scattering in the relativistic regime in near-critical plasmas

Interaction of a high-intensity short laser pulse with near-critical plasmas allows us to achieve extremely high coupling efficiency and transfer laser energy to energetic ions. One-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are considered to detail the processes involved in the energy transfer. A confrontation of the numerical results with the theory highlights a key role played by the process of stimulated Raman scattering in the relativistic regime. The interaction of a 1 ps laser pulse (I∼6×10^{18}Wcm^{-2} with an undercritical (0.5n_{c}) homogeneous plasma leads to a very high plasma absorption reaching 68% of the laser pulse energy. This permits a homogeneous electron heating all along the plasma and an efficient ion acceleration at the plasma edges and in cavities.

Deflection of a Reflected Intense Vortex Laser Beam

An interesting deflection effect deviating the optical reflection law is revealed in the relativistic regime of intense vortex laser plasma interaction. When an intense vortex laser obliquely impinges onto an overdense plasma target, the reflected beam deflects out of the plane of incidence with an experimentally observable deflection angle. The mechanism is demonstrated by full three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation as well as analytical modeling using the Maxwell stress tensor. The deflection results from the rotational symmetry breaking of the foil driven by the unsymmetrical shear stress of the vortex beam. The l-dependent shear stress, where l is the topological charge, as an intrinsic characteristic to the vortex beam, plays an important role as the ponderomotive force in relativistic vortex laser matter interaction.

Efficient quasi-monoenergetic ion beams from laser-driven relativistic plasmas

Table-top laser-plasma ion accelerators have many exciting applications, many of which require ion beams with simultaneous narrow energy spread and high conversion efficiency. However, achieving these requirements has been elusive. Here we report the experimental demonstration of laser-driven ion beams with narrow energy spread and energies up to 18 MeV per nucleon and ∼5% conversion efficiency (that is 4 J out of 80-J laser). Using computer simulations we identify a self-organizing scheme that reduces the ion energy spread after the laser exits the plasma through persisting self-generated plasma electric (∼10(12) V m(-1)) and magnetic (∼10(4) T) fields. These results contribute to the development of next generation compact accelerators suitable for many applications such as isochoric heating for ion-fast ignition and producing warm dense matter for basic science.

Ultrasharp-front laser pulses generated by energetic-electron flux triggering of laser propagation in overdense plasmas

This paper reports that an initially opaque plasma foil, irradiated by a laser pulse with intensity below the self-induced transparency (SIT) threshold, will become transparent, if a flux of energetic electrons is present. Based on this phenomenon, named flux-induced transparency (FIT), an approach to obtaining ultrasharp-front laser pulses is proposed. With the presence of an energetic-electron flux generated by a p-polarized laser irradiating an overdense plasma foil from the rear side, the propagation of an s-polarized laser irradiating the front surface of the foil can be manipulated. The transmitted s-polarized laser pulse has an ultrasharp front which rises by three orders of magnitude within a few laser cycles. The profile of the transmitted pulse is tunable by controlling the time at which the energetic-electron flux arrives at the front surface.

Short intense laser pulse collapse in near-critical plasma

It is observed that the interaction of an intense ultrashort laser pulse with a near-critical gas jet results in the pulse collapse and the deposition of a significant fraction of the energy. This deposition happens in a small and well-localized volume in the rising part of the gas jet, where the electrons are efficiently accelerated and heated. A collisionless plasma expansion over ~ 150 μm at a subrelativistic velocity (~ c/3) has been optically monitored in time and space, and attributed to the quasistatic field ionization of the gas associated with the hot electron current. Numerical simulations in good agreement with the observations suggest the acceleration in the collapse region of relativistic electrons, along with the excitation of a sizable magnetic dipole that sustains the electron current over several picoseconds.

Effect of electron heating on self-induced transparency in relativistic-intensity laser-plasma interactions

The effective increase of the critical density associated with the interaction of relativistically intense laser pulses with overcritical plasmas, known as self-induced transparency, is revisited for the case of circular polarization. A comparison of particle-in-cell simulations to the predictions of a relativistic cold-fluid model for the transparency threshold demonstrates that kinetic effects, such as electron heating, can lead to a substantial increase of the effective critical density compared to cold-fluid theory. These results are interpreted by a study of separatrices in the single-electron phase space corresponding to dynamics in the stationary fields predicted by the cold-fluid model. It is shown that perturbations due to electron heating exceeding a certain finite threshold can force electrons to escape into the vacuum, leading to laser pulse propagation. The modification of the transparency threshold is linked to the temporal pulse profile, through its effect on electron heating.

Laser ion acceleration using a solid target coupled with a low-density layer

We investigate by particle-in-cell simulations in two and three dimensions the laser-plasma interaction and the proton acceleration in multilayer targets where a low-density ("near-critical") layer of a few-micron thickness is added on the illuminated side of a thin, high-density layer. This target design can be obtained by depositing a "foam" layer on a thin metallic foil. The presence of the near-critical plasma strongly increases both the conversion efficiency and the energy of electrons and leads to enhanced acceleration of protons from a rear side layer via the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism. The electrons of the foam are strongly accelerated in the forward direction and propagate on the rear side of the target, building up a high electric field with a relatively flat longitudinal profile. In these conditions the maximum proton energy is up to three times higher than in the case of the bare solid target.

Ion response to relativistic electron bunches in the blowout regime of laser-plasma accelerators

The ion response to relativistic electron bunches in the so called bubble or blowout regime of a laser-plasma accelerator is discussed. In response to the strong fields of the accelerated electrons the ions form a central filament along the laser axis that can be compressed to densities 2 orders of magnitude higher than the initial particle density. A theory of the filament formation and a model of ion self-compression are proposed. It is also shown that in the case of a sharp rear plasma-vacuum interface the ions can be accelerated by a combination of three basic mechanisms. The long time ion evolution that results from the strong electrostatic fields of an electron bunch provides a unique diagnostic of laser-plasma accelerators.

High-energy ions from near-critical density plasmas via magnetic vortex acceleration

Ultraintense laser pulses propagating in near-critical density plasmas generate magnetic dipole vortex structures. In the region of decreasing plasma density, the vortex expands both in forward and lateral directions. The magnetic field pressure pushes electrons and ions to form a density jump along the vortex axis and induces a longitudinal electric field. This structure moves together with the expanding dipole vortex. The background ions located ahead of the electric field are accelerated to high energies. The energy scaling of ions generated by this magnetic vortex acceleration mechanism is derived and corroborated using particle-in-cell simulations.

Generation of GeV protons from 1 PW laser interaction with near critical density targets

The propagation of ultraintense laser pulses through matter is connected with the generation of strong moving magnetic fields in the propagation channel as well as the formation of a thin ion filament along the axis of the channel. Upon exiting the plasma the magnetic field displaces the electrons at the back of the target, generating a quasistatic electric field that accelerates and collimates ions from the filament. Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that a 1 PW laser pulse tightly focused on a near-critical density target is able to accelerate protons up to an energy of 1.3 GeV. Scaling laws and optimal conditions for proton acceleration are established considering the energy depletion of the laser pulse.