Natalia M. Naumova

Hole Boring in a DT Pellet and Fast-Ion Ignition with Ultraintense Laser Pulses

Recently achieved high intensities of short laser pulses open new prospects in their application to hole boring in inhomogeneous overdense plasmas and for ignition in precompressed DT fusion targets. A simple analytical model and numerical simulations demonstrate that pulses with intensities exceeding 10;{22} W/cm;{2} may penetrate deeply into the plasma as a result of efficient ponderomotive acceleration of ions in the forward direction. The penetration depth as big as hundreds of microns depends on the laser fluence, which has to exceed a few tens of GJ/cm;{2}. The fast ions, accelerated at the bottom of the channel with an efficiency of more than 20%, show a high directionality and may heat the precompressed target core to fusion conditions.

Relativistic laser piston model: Ponderomotive ion acceleration in dense plasmas using ultraintense laser pulses

Laser ponderomotive force at superhigh intensities provides an efficient ion acceleration in bulk dense targets and evacuates a channel enabling further laser beam propagation. The developed quasistationary model of a laser piston—a double layer structure supported by the radiation pressure—predicts the general parameters of the acceleration process in homogeneous and inhomogeneous overdense plasmas. Particle-in-cell simulations confirm the estimated characteristics in a wide range of laser intensities and ion densities and show advantages of circularly polarized laser pulses. Two nonstationary effects are identified in the simulations. First, oscillations of the piston velocity and of the thickness of the ion charge separation layer broaden the energy spectrum of accelerated ions. Second, the electrons accelerated toward the incoming laser wave emit strong high-frequency radiation, enabling a cooling effect, which helps to sustain high charge neutrality in the piston and to maintain an efficient ion acce...

Pair Creation in QED-Strong Pulsed Laser Fields Interacting with Electron Beams

QED effects are known to occur in a strong laser pulse interaction with a counterpropagating electron beam, among these effects being electron-positron pair creation. We discuss the range of laser pulse intensities of J≥5×10(22) W/cm2 combined with electron beam energies of tens of GeV. In this regime multiple pairs may be generated from a single beam electron, some of the newborn particles being capable of further pair production. Radiation backreaction prevents avalanche development and limits pair creation. The system of integro-differential kinetic equations for electrons, positrons and γ photons is derived and solved numerically.

Dynamics of emitting electrons in strong laser fields

A new derivation of the motion of a radiating electron is given, leading to a formulation that differs from the Lorentz–Abraham–Dirac equation and its published modifications. It satisfies the proper conservation laws. Particularly, it conserves the generalized momentum, eliminating the symmetry-breaking runaway solution. The equation allows a consistent calculation of the electron current, the radiation effect on the electron momentum, and the radiation itself, for a single electron or plasma electrons in strong electromagnetic fields. The equation is then applied to a simulation of a strong laser pulse interaction with a plasma target. Some analytical solutions are also provided.

Emission and its back-reaction accompanying electron motion in relativistically strong and QED-strong pulsed laser fields

The emission from an electron in the field of a relativistically strong laser pulse is analyzed. At pulse intensities of J>or=2x10(22) W/cm(2) the emission from counterpropagating electrons is modified by the effects of quantum electrodynamics (QED), as long as the electron energy is sufficiently high: E>or=1 GeV . The radiation force experienced by an electron is for the first time derived from the QED principles and its applicability range is extended toward the QED-strong fields.

Relativistic attosecond physics

A study, with particle-in-cell simulations, of relativistic nonlinear optics in the regime of tight focus and ultrashort pulse duration (the λ3 regime) reveals that synchronized attosecond electromagnetic pulses [N. M. Naumova, J. A. Nees, I. V. Sokolov, B. Hou, and G. A. Mourou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 063902 (2004)] and attosecond electron bunches [N. Naumova, I. Sokolov, J. Nees, A. Maksimchuk, V. Yanovsky, and G. Mourou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 195003 (2004)] emerge efficiently from laser interaction with overdense plasmas. The λ3 concept enables a more basic understanding and a more practical implementation of these phenomena because it provides spatial and temporal isolation. The synchronous generation of strong attosecond electromagnetic pulses and dense attosecond electron bunches provides a basis for relativistic attosecond optoelectronics.

Studies of laser wakefield structures and electron acceleration in underdense plasmas

Experiments on electron acceleration and optical diagnostics of laser wakes were performed on the HERCULES facility in a wide range of laser and plasma parameters. Using frequency domain holography we demonstrated single shot visualization of individual plasma waves, produced by 40TW, 30fs laser pulses focused to the intensity of 1019W∕cm2 onto a supersonic He gas jet with plasma densities ne<1019cm−3. These holographic “snapshots” capture the variation in shape of the plasma wave with distance behind the driver, and resolve wave front curvature seen previously only in simulations. High-energy quasimonoenergetic electron beams were generated using plasma density in the range 1.5×1019≤ne≤3.5×1019cm−3. These experiments demonstrated that the energy, charge, divergence, and pointing stability of the beam can be controlled by changing ne, and that higher electron energies and more stable beams are produced for lower densities. An optimized quasimonoenergetic beam of over 300MeV and 10mrad angular divergence i...

Numerical modeling of radiation-dominated and quantum- electrodynamically strong regimes of laser-plasma interaction

Ultra-strong laser pulses can be so intense that an electron in the focused beam loses significant energy due to γ-photon emission while its motion deviates via the radiation back-reaction. Numerical methods and tools designed to simulate radiation-dominated and quantum-electrodynamically strong laser-plasma interactions are summarized here.

Relativistic generation of isolated attosecond pulses: a different route to extreme intensity

Isolated attosecond pulses and electron bunches can be efficiently generated in the interaction of intense lasers with plasma in the confined volume of the λ3 regime. Scaling with intensity is found to improve pulse brevity and focusability greatly while the efficiency of the attosecond pulse generation continues to remain high. Practical consideration of the tools needed to generate such pulses indicates that such interactions are surprisingly accessible. We mention some introductory experiments whereby we may verify the theoretical predictions of this new class of attosecond pulses. This technique may enable us to reach the Schwinger intensity 1029 W cm−2.

High-order harmonics from an ultraintense laser pulse propagating inside a fiber

A propagation of an ultra-intense short laser pulse in a fiber is investigated with two dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. The fiber is a narrow hollow channel with walls consisting of overdense plasma. In the nonlinear interaction of the laser pulse with fiber walls high order harmonics are generated. Sufficiently high harmonics, for which the fiber walls are transparent, propagate outwards at certain angle. This is a scheme of a generator of ultra-short pulses of coherent light with a very short wavelength.