Laser-pulse-induced second-harmonic and hard x-ray emission: role of plasma-wave breaking

Mitigation of electromagnetic pulses interfering with Thomson parabola ion spectrometers at XG-III laser facility

The Thomson parabola ion spectrometer is vulnerable to intense electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated by a high-power laser interacting with solid targets. A metal shielding cage with a circular aperture of 1 mm diameter is designed to mitigate EMPs induced by a picosecond laser irradiating a copper target in an experiment where additionally an 8-ns delayed nanosecond laser is incident into an aluminum target at the XG-III laser facility. The implementation of the shielding cage reduces the maximum EMP amplitude inside the cage to 5.2 kV/m, and the simulation results indicate that the cage effectively shields electromagnetic waves. However, the laser-accelerated relativistic electrons which escaped the target potential accumulate charge on the surface of the cage, which is responsible for the detected EMPs within the cage. To further alleviate EMPs, a lead wall and an absorbing material (ECCOSORB AN-94) were added before the cage, significantly blocking the propagation of electrons. These findings provide valuable insights into EMP generation in large-scale laser infrastructures and serve as a foundation for electromagnetic shielding design.

Dust-acoustic soliton breaking and the associated acceleration of charged particles

The breaking of a plane self-excited dust-acoustic soliton in a dust cloud formed in stratified dc glow discharge plasma is studied. Both macroscopic and kinetic parameters of the dust component near the soliton are experimentally obtained. It is shown that the breaking of a soliton can accelerate charged particles to supersonic speeds. The theoretical interpretation of the experimental results is performed in the framework of the hydrodynamic plasma approach, as well as the single-particle approximation. Both dissipative and nondissipative cases are considered.

A washer gun plasma system for microwave-plasma interaction experiments

A washer-gun based plasma system has been developed to enable high power microwave (HPM)-plasma interaction in a system for microwave plasma experiments. The critical pre-requisites of the plasma are density, n_e ∼ (1-10) × 10¹⁷ m^-3, uniformity over a radial extent ≈10 cm and axial extent ≈20-30 cm, an axial density gradient of scale-length L_n ≈ wavelength of HPM, and ambient pressure low enough to maintain electron-neutral collision frequency much less than plasma frequency. The system developed deploys a ten stage pulse forming network, discharged to the washer-gun to produce pulsed (τ_pulse ∼ 100 μs) discharges that get ejected into an experimental chamber. The system is capable of generating n_e ∼ 10¹⁸ m^-3 and T_e ∼ 10 eV. Temporal and spatial regimes are identified to obtain the required extents of radial and axial n_e uniformity of 10 cm and 20 cm, respectively, and a steep axial gradient L_n ≈ 10 cm. Based on the desired frequency of the interacting HPM (in the range 3-5 GHz) planned for a particular experimental campaign, the density and spatial density profiles of the plasma can be tailored. The present paper presents an account of the plasma source and characterization of the plasma.

Enhancement of X-ray emission from nanocolloidal gold suspensions under double-pulse excitation

Enhancement of X-ray emission was observed from a micro-jet of a nano-colloidal gold suspension in air under double-pulse excitation of ultrashort (40 fs) near-IR laser pulses. Temporal and spatial overlaps between the pre-pulse and the main pulse were optimized for the highest X-ray emission. The maximum X-ray intensity was obtained at a 1-7 ns delay of the main pulse irradiation after the pre-pulse irradiation with the micro-jet position shifted along the laser beam propagation. It was revealed that the volume around gold nanoparticles where the permittivity is near zero, ε ≈ 0, accounts for the strongest absorption, which leads to the effective enhancements of X-ray emission.

Lagrangian-Eulerian dynamics of breaking shallow water waves through tracer tracking of fluid elements

We experimentally investigate the Lagrangian-Eulerian dynamics of fluid motion and wave-form evolution for a breaking shallow water wave approaching a slope by tracking tracer motions. It is found that, before breaking, the surface element can climb over the crest and exhibits cyclic oscillation with small forward drift. The increasing asymmetric tangential compression (accumulation) and rarefaction (depletion) in the crest front and the crest are the keys for the crest front steepening with the increasing particle cyclic excursion and forward Stoke drift. Eventually, the surface layer cannot climb over the crest with the vertical front. It curls up and forms an overhanging plunging jet leading the crest, while the lower flow still can reach the crest rear. This process leads to wave breaking with the rapid drop of crest height and the transition from slow divergence to rapid divergence of the adjacent fluid trajectories.

A bright point source of ultrashort hard x-ray pulses using biological cells

We demonstrate that the interaction of intense femtosecond light on a plain solid substrate can be substantially altered by a few micron layer coating of bacterial cells, live or dead. Using E. Coli cells, we show that at an intensity of 10(16)W cm(-2), the bremsstraahlung hard x-ray emission (up to 300 keV), is increased by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to a plain glass slab. Particle-in-cell simulations carried out by modeling the bacterial cells as ellipsoidal particles show that the hot electron generation is indeed enhanced by the presence of microstructures. This new methodology should pave way for using microbiological systems of varied shapes to control intense laser produced plasmas for EUV/x-ray generation.

Doppler spectrometry for ultrafast temporal mapping of density dynamics in laser-induced plasmas

We present high resolution measurements of the ultrafast temporal dynamics of the critical surface in moderately overdense, hot plasma by using two-color, pump-probe Doppler spectrometry. Our measurements clearly capture the initial inward motion of the plasma inside the critical surface of the pump laser which is followed by outward expansion. The measured instantaneous velocity and acceleration profiles are very well reproduced by a hybrid simulation that uses a 1D electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation for the initial evolution and a hydrodynamics simulation for the later times. The combination of high temporal resolution and dynamic range in our measurements clearly provides quantitative unraveling of the dynamics in this important region, enabling this as a powerful technique to obtain ultrafast snapshots of plasma density and temperature profiles for providing benchmarks for simulations.

Wave-particle dynamics of wave breaking in the self-excited dust acoustic wave

The wave-particle microdynamics in the breaking of the self-excited dust acoustic wave growing in a dusty plasma liquid is investigated through directly tracking dust micromotion. It is found that the nonlinear wave growth and steepening stop as the mean oscillating amplitude of dust displacement reaches about 1/k (k is the wave number), where the vertical neighboring dust trajectories start to crossover and the resonant wave heating with uncertain crest trapping onsets. The dephased dust oscillations cause the abrupt dropping and broadening of the wave crest after breaking, accompanied by the transition from the liquid phase with coherent dust oscillation to the gas phase with chaotic dust oscillation. Corkscrew-shaped phase-space distributions measured at the fixed phases of the wave oscillation cycle clearly indicate how dusts move in and constitute the evolving waveform through dust-wave interaction.

Mapping giant magnetic fields around dense solid plasmas by high-resolution magneto-optical microscopy

We investigate the distribution of magnetic fields around dense solid plasmas generated by intense p-polarized laser approximately 10(16) W cm(-2), 100 fs) irradiation of magnetic tapes, using high sensitivity magneto-optical microscopy. By investigating the effect of irradiation on the magnetic tape, we present evidence for axial magnetic fields and map out the spatial distribution of these fields around the laser generated plasma. By using the axial magnetic field distribution as a diagnostic tool we uncover evidence for angular momentum associated with the plasma.