K. J. Bowers

Monoenergetic and GeV ion acceleration from the laser breakout afterburner using ultrathin targets

A new laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism using ultrathin targets has been identified from particle-in-cell simulations. After a brief period of target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) [S. P. Hatchett et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 2076 (2000)], two distinct stages follow: first, a period of enhanced TNSA during which the cold electron background converts entirely to hot electrons, and second, the “laser breakout afterburner” (BOA) when the laser penetrates to the rear of the target where a localized longitudinal electric field is generated with the location of the peak field co-moving with the ions. During this process, a relativistic electron beam is produced by the ponderomotive drive of the laser. This beam is unstable to a relativistic Buneman instability, which rapidly converts the electron energy into ion energy. This mechanism accelerates ions to much higher energies using laser intensities comparable to earlier TNSA experiments. At a laser intensity of 1021W∕cm2, the carbon ions accelerate as a qu...

Ultrahigh performance three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic kinetic plasma simulation

The algorithms, implementation details, and applications of VPIC, a state-of-the-art first principles 3D electromagnetic relativistic kinetic particle-in-cell code, are discussed. Unlike most codes, VPIC is designed to minimize data motion, as, due to physical limitations (including the speed of light!), moving data between and even within modern microprocessors is more time consuming than performing computations. As a result, VPIC has achieved unprecedented levels of performance. For example, VPIC can perform ∼0.17 billion cold particles pushed and charge conserving accumulated per second per processor on IBM’s Cell microprocessor—equivalent to sustaining Los Alamos’s planned Roadrunner supercomputer at ∼0.56 petaflop (quadrillion floating point operations per second). VPIC has enabled previously intractable simulations in numerous areas of plasma physics, including magnetic reconnection and laser plasma interactions; next generation supercomputers like Roadrunner will enable further advances.

Relativistic Buneman instability in the laser breakout afterburner

A new laser-driven ion acceleration mechanism has been identified in particle-in-cell simulations of high-contrast-ratio ultraintense lasers with very thin (10s of nm) solid targets [Yin et al., Laser and Particle Beams 24, 291 (2006); Yin et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 072701 (2007)]. After a brief period of target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA), “enhanced” TNSA follows. In this stage, the laser rapidly heats all the electrons in the target as the target thickness becomes comparable to the skin depth and enhanced acceleration of the ions results. Then, concomitant with the laser penetrating the target, a large accelerating longitudinal electric field is generated that co-moves with the ions. This last phase has been termed the laser “breakout afterburner” (BOA). Earlier work suggested that the BOA was associated with the Buneman instability that efficiently converts energy from the drift of the electrons into the ions. In this Brief Communication, this conjecture is found to be consistent with particle-in-...

Efficient carbon ion beam generation from laser-driven volume acceleration

Experimental data on laser-driven carbon C6+ ion acceleration with a peak intensity of 5???1020?W?cm?2 are presented and compared for opaque target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) and relativistically transparent laser?plasma interactions. Particle numbers, peak ion energy and conversion efficiency have been investigated for target thicknesses from 50?nm to 25??m using unprecedented full spectral beam profile line-out measurements made using a novel high-resolution ion wide-angle spectrometer. For thicknesses of about 200?nm, particle numbers and peak energy increase to 5???1011 carbon C6+ particles between 33 and 700?MeV (60?MeV?u?1), which is a factor of five higher in particle number than that observed for targets with micron thickness. For 200?nm thick targets, we find that the peak conversion efficiency is 6% and that up to 55% of the target under the laser focal spot is accelerated to energies above 33?MeV. This contrasts with the results for targets with micron thickness, where surface acceleration with TNSA is dominant. The experimental findings are consistent with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

Influence of Coulomb collisions on the structure of reconnection layers

The influence of Coulomb collisions on the structure of reconnection layers is examined in neutral sheet geometry using fully kinetic simulations with a Monte Carlo treatment of the Fokker–Planck operator. The algorithm is first carefully benchmarked against key predictions from transport theory, including the parallel and perpendicular resistivities as well as the thermal force. The results demonstrate that the collisionality is accurately specified, thus allowing the initial Lundquist number to be chosen as desired. For modest Lundquist numbers S≲1000, the classic Sweet–Parker solution is recovered. Furthermore, a distinct transition to a faster kinetic regime is observed when the thickness of the resistive layer δSP falls below the ion inertial length di. For higher Lundquist numbers S≳1000, plasmoids (secondary islands) are observed within the elongated resistive layers. These plasmoids give rise to a measurable increase in the reconnection rate and for certain cases induce a transition to kinetic reg...

Particle energization in 3D magnetic reconnection of relativistic pair plasmas

We present large scale 3D particle-in-cell simulations to examine particle energization in magnetic reconnection of relativistic electron-positron (pair) plasmas. The initial configuration is set up as a relativistic Harris equilibrium without a guide field. These simulations are large enough to accommodate a sufficient number of tearing and kink modes. Contrary to the non-relativistic limit, the linear tearing instability is faster than the linear kink instability, at least in our specific parameters. We find that the magnetic energy dissipation is first facilitated by the tearing instability and followed by the secondary kink instability. Particles are mostly energized inside the magnetic islands during the tearing stage due to the spatially varying electric fields produced by the outflows from reconnection. Secondary kink instability leads to additional particle acceleration. Accelerated particles are, however, observed to be thermalized quickly. The large amplitude of the vertical magnetic field resulting from the tearing modes by the secondary kink modes further help thermalizing the non-thermal particles generated from the secondary kink instability. Implications of these results for astrophysics are briefly discussed.

Saturation of backward stimulated scattering of laser in kinetic regime : Wavefront bowing, trapped particle modulational instability, and trapped particle self-focusing of plasma waves

Backward stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering (SRS and SBS) of laser are examined in the kinetic regime using particle-in-cell simulations. The SRS reflectivity measured as a function of the laser intensity in a single hot spot from two-dimensional (2D) simulations shows a sharp onset at a threshold laser intensity and a saturated level at higher intensities, as obtained previously in Trident experiments [D. S. Montgomery et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2311 (2002)]. In these simulations, wavefront bowing of electron plasma waves (ion acoustic waves) due to the trapped particle nonlinear frequency shift, which increases with laser intensity, is observed in the SRS (SBS) regime for the first time. Self-focusing from trapped particle modulational instability (TPMI) [H. A. Rose, Phys. Plasmas 12, 12318 (2005)] is shown to occur in both two- and three-dimensional SRS simulations. The key physics underlying nonlinear saturation of SRS is identified as a combination of wavefront bowing, TPMI, and self-focusing of...

Break-out afterburner ion acceleration in the longer laser pulse length regime

Kinetic simulations of break-out-afterburner (BOA) ion acceleration from nm-scale targets are examined in a longer pulse length regime than studied previously. It is shown that when the target becomes relativistically transparent to the laser, an epoch of dramatic acceleration of ions occurs that lasts until the electron density in the expanding target reduces to the critical density in the non-relativistic limit. For given laser parameters, the optimal target thickness yielding the highest maximum ion energy is one in which this time window for ion acceleration overlaps with the intensity peak of the laser pulse. A simple analytic model of relativistically induced transparency is presented for plasma expansion at the time-evolving sound speed, from which these times may be estimated. The maximum ion energy attainable is controlled by the finite acceleration volume and time over which the BOA acts.

Particle in cell simulations of fast magnetosonic wave turbulence in the ion cyclotron frequency range

Fully electromagnetic particle in cell simulations of nonlinear waves propagation and interaction are performed in two-dimensional plane geometry in magnetized plasma in ion cyclotron frequency range. A spectrum of fast magnetosonic wave modes with wave numbers parallel and perpendicular to the uniform equilibrium magnetic field is launched into plasma and the nonlinear dynamics of these waves is analyzed. Results show that the wave magnetic energy spectrum cascades to smaller scales. In the low frequency in the magnetohydrodynamic regime, the cascade is basically isotropic. Once entering the high frequency kinetic regime the cascade exhibits strong anisotropy, it extends to much smaller scales in direction perpendicular to the equilibrium magnetic field. The shape of the cascade is established after a few ion cyclotron periods and most of the energy in the cascade stays in the fast wave oscillations. Collisionless damping on electrons is the main dissipation channel in these results.

0.374 Pflop/s trillion-particle kinetic modeling of laser plasma interaction on Roadrunner

We demonstrate the outstanding performance and scalability of the VPIC kinetic plasma modeling code on the heterogeneous IBM Roadrunner supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory. VPIC is a three-dimensional, relativistic, electromagnetic, particle-in-cell (PIC) code that self-consistently evolves a kinetic plasma. VPIC simulations of laser plasma interaction were conducted at unprecedented fidelity and scale-up to 1.0 times 1012 particles on as many as 136 times 106 voxels-to model accurately the particle trapping physics occurring within a laser-driven hohlraum in an inertial confinement fusion experiment. During a parameter study of laser reflectivity as a function of laser intensity under experimentally realizable hohlraum conditions, we measured sustained performance exceeding 0.374 Pflop/s (s.p.) with the inner loop itself achieving 0.488 Pflop/s (s.p.). Given the increasing importance of data motion limitations, it is notable that this was measured in a PIC calculation-a technique that typically requires more data motion per computation than other techniques (such as dense matrix calculations, molecular dynamics N-body calculations and Monte-Carlo calculations) often used to demonstrate supercomputer performance. This capability opens up the exciting possibility of using VPIC to model, from first-principles, an issue critical to the success of the multi-billion dollar DOE/NNSA National Ignition Facility.