J. W. Wang

Quasi-monoenergetic ion generation by hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration in inhomogeneous plasmas using tailored laser pulses

It is proposed that laser hole-boring at a steady speed in inhomogeneous overdense plasma can be realized by the use of temporally tailored intense laser pulses, producing high-fluence quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. A general temporal profile of such laser pulses is formulated for arbitrary plasma density distribution. As an example, for a precompressed deuterium-tritium fusion target with an exponentially increasing density profile, its matched laser profile for steady hole-boring is given theoretically and verified numerically by particle-in-cell simulations. Furthermore, we propose to achieve fast ignition by the in-situ hole-boring accelerated ions using a tailored laser pulse. Simulations show that the effective energy fluence, conversion efficiency, energy spread, and collimation of the resulting ion beam can be significantly improved as compared to those found with un-tailored laser profiles. For the fusion fuel with an areal density of 1.5 g cm–2, simulation indicates that it is promising to reali...

Enhanced surface acceleration of fast electrons by using subwavelength grating targets

Surface acceleration of fast electrons in intense laser-plasma interaction is investigated by using subwavelength grating targets. The fast electron beam emitted along the target surface was enhanced by more than three times relative to that by using planar target. The total number of the fast electrons ejected from the front surface of grating target was two times higher than that of planar target. The method to enhance the surface acceleration of fast electrons may have several applications such as in ion acceleration and the experiment of high energy density physics.

Collimated hot electron jets generated from subwavelength grating targets irradiated by intense short-pulse laser

Hot electron emission from subwavelength grating targets irradiated by a 60 fs short-pulse laser was investigated at moderate intensities in excess of 1015 W/cm2. Collimated hot electron jets with a divergence angle as small as 5° were observed at the specular reflection direction when the laser beam was incident at the resonance angle for surface plasmon excitation. When the incident angle, which departs from the resonant angle, is increased, the collimated hot electron jet remains near the specular reflection direction, but its intensity attenuates gradually. At the same time, the number of the hot electrons with very large spreading angle emitting along the target normal direction increases with the incident angle.

Lower hybrid current drive experiments with different launched wave frequencies in the EAST tokamak

EAST has been equipped with two high power lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) systems with operating frequencies of 2.45 GHz and 4.6 GHz. Comparative LHCD experiments with the two different frequencies were performed in the same conditions of plasma for the first time. It was found that current drive (CD) efficiency and plasma heating effect are much better for 4.6 GHz LH waves than for the one with 2.45 GHz. High confinement mode (H-mode) discharges with 4.6 GHz LHCD as the sole auxiliary heating source have been obtained in EAST and the confinement is higher with respect to that produced previously by 2.45 GHz. A combination of ray-tracing and Fokker-Planck calculations by using the C3PO/LUKE codes was performed in order to explain the different experimental observations between the two waves. In addition, the frequency spectral broadening of the two LH wave operating frequencies was surveyed by using a radio frequency probe.

Efficient acceleration of a small dense plasma pellet by consecutive action of multiple short intense laser pulses

The acceleration of a micrometer-sized plasma pellet at 100 critical densities (10(23) cm(-3)) by consecutive application of ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses is studied using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. It is shown that due to the repeated actions of the laser ponderomotive force, a small dense plasma pellet can be efficiently accelerated, with a considerable fraction of the plasma ions accelerated to high speeds. The proposed scheme can provide a high-density flux of energetic ions, which should be valuable in many practical applications.

Guiding of intense laser pulse in uniform plasmas and preformed plasma channels

Guiding of laser pulse in uniform plasmas and preformed plasma channels is investigated. The self-guiding mechanisms for these two cases are quite different. It is found that an intense laser pulse can be steadily self-guided in underdense plasmas with nearly a constant spot size if the self-consistently generated electron cavity has a sufficiently steep density gradient at the edge. In a preformed plasma channel, however, laser guiding is maintained mainly by the balance between the light diffraction and focusing. The latter is induced by the wall plasmas which greatly reduce the local dielectric constant. It is shown that the self-guiding of a laser pulse in uniform plasmas requires tens of terawatts power, but those that are in preformed channels can be realized with only a terawatt power.

Generation of quasi-monoenergetic carbon ions accelerated parallel to the plane of a sandwich target

A new ion acceleration scheme, namely, target parallel Coulomb acceleration, is proposed in which a carbon plate sandwiched between gold layers is irradiated with intense linearly polarized laser pulses. The high electrostatic field generated by the gold ions efficiently accelerates the embedded carbon ions parallel to the plane of the target. The ion beam is found to be collimated by the concave-shaped Coulomb potential. As a result, a quasi-monoenergetic and collimated C6+-ion beam with an energy exceeding 10 MeV/nucleon is produced at a laser intensity of 5 × 1019 W/cm2.

Impact of laser-accelerated micron-size projectile on dense plasma

The impact of a laser-accelerated micron-size projectile on a dense plasma target is studied using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The projectile is first accelerated by an ultraintense laser. It then impinges on the dense plasma target and merges with the latter. Part of the kinetic energy of the laser-accelerated ions in the projectile is deposited in the fused target, and an extremely high concentration of plasma ions with a mean kinetic energy needed for fusion reaction is induced. The interaction is thus useful for laser-driven impact fusion and as a compact neutron source.