Ion Acceleration And Extreme Light Field Generation Based On Ultra-short And Ultra?intense Lasers (springer Theses)

This book is dedicated to the relativistic (laser intensity above 1018 W/cm2) laser-plasma interactions, which mainly concerns two important aspects: ion acceleration and extreme-light-field (ELF). Based on the ultra-intense and ultra–short CP lasers, this book proposes a new method that significantly improves the efficiency of heavy-ion acceleration, and deals with the critical thickness issues of light pressure acceleration. More importantly, a series of plasma approaches for producing ELFs, such as the relativistic single-cycle laser pulse, the intense broad-spectrum chirped laser pulse and the ultra-intense isolated attosecond (10-18s) pulse are introduced. This book illustrates that plasma not only affords a tremendous accelerating gradient for ion acceleration but also serves as a novel medium for ELF generation, and hence has the potential of plasma-based optics, which have a great advantage on the light intensity due to the absence of device damage threshold. Supervisor’s Foreword 7 Acknowledgments 9 Contents 10 1 Introduction 12 1.1...Introduction to Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction 12 1.1.1 Development of Laser Technology and Corresponding Research Areas 12 1.1.2 Typical Parameters and Characteristics 13 1.1.2.1 Relativistic Threshold 14 1.1.2.2 Ponderomotive Force 15 1.1.2.3 Electron-Plasma and Ion-Acoustic Waves 18 1.1.2.4 Critical Plasma Density 19 1.1.3 Theories and Simulation Methods 20 1.1.3.1 Maxwell Equations 20 1.1.3.2 Lagrange-Hamilton Description 21 1.1.3.3 Equations of EM-Wave-Plasma Interaction 22 1.1.3.4 Particle-In-Cell Simulation Method 23 1.2...Main Areas in Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction 25 1.2.1 Laser ‘‘Fast Ignition’’ Fusion 25 1.2.2 Electron Heating and Acceleration 27 1.2.2.1 Electron Heating 27 1.2.2.2 Electron Acceleration 27 1.3...Laser Ion Acceleration 29 1.3.1 Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) 30 1.3.2 Electrostatic Shock Acceleration (ESA) 33 1.3.2.1 ESA in Plasma 33 1.3.2.2 Light-Pressure Driven ESA 34 1.3.3 Light Sail Acceleration (LSA) 37 1.3.4 Wakefield Ion Acceleration 40 1.4...Intense High-Order Harmonics and Attosecond Pulses 41 1.4.1 Relativistic Oscillating Mirror Model 42 1.4.2 Intense Attosecond Pulses 43 1.4.3 Multi-dimensional Effects 44 References 46 2 Ion Acceleration I: Efficient Heavy Ion Acceleration by ESA 52 2.1...Introduction 52 2.2...CP Laser Interacting with Multispecies Target 53 2.3...Analytical Modeling 54 2.4...Generating Monoenergetic Heavy Ion Beam 56 2.4.1 ‘‘Sandwich’’ Target in One-Dimensional Simulation 56 2.4.2 Microstructured Target in Three-Dimensional Simulation 58 2.5...Summary and Discussion 58 References 60 3 Ion Acceleration II: The Critical Target Thickness in Light Sail Acceleration 61 3.1...Introduction 61 3.2...Estimation for Critical Thickness 61 3.3...Analysis on One-Dimensional Particle-in-Cell Simulations 63 3.4...Summary and Discussion 65 References 65 4 Extreme Light Field Generation I: Quasi-Single-Cycle Relativistic Laser Pulse 66 4.1...Introduction 66 4.2...Quasi-Single-Cycle Pulse from Laser (CP)--Foil Interaction 67 4.3...Nonlinear Modulation of Foil Transparency 68 4.3.1 Stationary Solution 68 4.3.2 Modulation Mechanism and Parametric Study 70 4.4...Two-Dimensional Simulation 72 4.5...Summary 73 References 73 5 Extreme Light Field Generation II: Short-Wavelength Single-Cycle Ultra-Intense Laser Pulse 74 5.1...Introduction 74 5.2...Intense Chirped Pulse Generated by Double-Sided Laser (CP)--Foil Interaction 74 5.3...Analysis 76 5.3.1 Characteristics and Manipulation of the Chirped Pulse 76 5.3.2 Parametric Conditions 78 5.4...Two-Dimensional Simulation 79 5.5...Discussion 80 5.6...Summary 80 References 81 6 Extreme Light Field Generation III: Ultra-Intense Isolated Attosecond Pulse 82 6.1...Introduction 82 6.2...CP Laser Field Reflected by Plasma Boundary 83 6.3...Analysis 83 6.3.1 Interacting Model 83 6.3.2 Comparison with Simulations 85 6.3.3 Effects of Target Density and Pulse Duration 85 6.3.4 Comparison with LP Laser 87 6.4...Two-Dimensional Simulation 88 6.5...Summary 90 References 90 7 Summary 92 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-40 Ion Acceleration I: Efficient Heavy Ion Acceleration by ESA....Pages 41-49 Ion Acceleration II: The Critical Target Thickness in Light Sail Acceleration....Pages 51-55 Extreme Light Field Generation I: Quasi-Single-Cycle Relativistic Laser Pulse....Pages 57-64 Extreme Light Field Generation II: Short-Wavelength Single-Cycle Ultra-Intense Laser Pulse....Pages 65-72 Extreme Light Field Generation III: Ultra-Intense Isolated Attosecond Pulse....Pages 73-82 Summary....Pages 83-84