P. Guillou

Inhibition of fast electron energy deposition due to preplasma filling of cone-attached targets

We present experimental and numerical results on the propagation and energy deposition of laser-generated fast electrons into conical targets. The first part reports on experimental measurements performed in various configurations in order to assess the predicted benefit of conical targets over standard planar ones. For the conditions investigated here, the fast electron-induced heating is found to be much weaker in cone-guided targets irradiated at a laser wavelength of 1.057μm, whereas frequency doubling of the laser pulse permits us to bridge the disparity between conical and planar targets. This result underscores the prejudicial role of the prepulse-generated plasma, whose confinement is enhanced in conical geometry. The second part is mostly devoted to the particle-in-cell modeling of the laser-cone interaction. In qualitative agreement with the experimental data, the calculations show that the presence of a large preplasma leads to a significant decrease in the fast electron density and energy flux...

Recent experiments on electron transport in high-intensity laser matter interaction

We present the results of some recent experiments performed at the LULI laboratory using the 100 TW laser facility concerning the study of the propagation of fast electrons in gas and solid targets. Novel diagnostics have been implemented including chirped shadowgraphy and proton radiography. Proton radiography images did show the presence of very strong fields in the gas probably produced by charge separation. In turn these imply a slowing down of the fast electron cloud as it penetrates in the gas and a strong inhibition of propagation. Indeed chirped shadowgraphy images show a strong reduction in time of the velocity of the electron cloud from the initial value, which is of the order of a fraction of c. We also performed some preliminary experiments with cone targets in order to verify the guiding effect and fast electron propagation in presence of the cone. Finally we compared results obtained by changing the target size.Here we only give a first presentation and preliminary analysis of data, which will be addressed in detail in a following paper.

Heating of solid target in electron refluxing dominated regime with ultra-intense laser

Propagation of electron beams generated in laser-plasma interactions is strongly influenced by self-induced electrostatic fields at target-vacuum interfaces, resulting the refluxing of electrons. We confirmed the refluxing and propagation of electrons with three different kinds of target configurations; thin-wide foil, thin-narrow foil, and long-wire geometry. Enhancement of target heating, effective guiding and collimation of high density MeV electrons were observed.

Recent experiment on fast electron transport in ultra-high intensity laser interaction

We performed an experiment with cone targets in planar geometry devoted to the study of fast electron generation, propagation, and target heating.. This was done at LULI with the 100 TW laser at intensities up to 10 19 W/cm 2 . Fast electrons penetration, with and without cones, was studied with different diagnostics (Kα imaging, Kα spectroscopy, visible emission) for ω or 2ω irradiation. At ω, the pre-plasma generated by the laser pedestal fills the cone and prevents the beam from reaching the tip.

Enhanced energy localization and heating in high contrast ultra-intense laser produced plasmas via novel conical micro-target design

We report new experiments showing enhanced laser-target coupling and energy localization using nano-fabricated micro-conical Cu targets performed at the 100 TW CPA laser at LULI. A comparison was made between 1ω (λ = 1.057 μm, I = 1019 W/cm2) and 2ω (λ = 0.53 μm, I = 4-8 × 1018 W/cm2) irradiation to determine the effect of ASE induced preformed plasma filling the cone, using as principal diagnostics 2D Cu Kα imaging (transverse and rear-side), and high-resolution conical crystal spectroscopy of the Cu Kα bands. The 2ω irradiation exhibits laser absorption up to 50 μm deeper into the cone tip (versus at 1 ω), with a commensurately smaller Kα emission zone. Spectroscopy indicates a higher average charge state for the Cu emission at 2ω, with some shots exhibiting up to at least O-like emission. We deduce that micro-cone targets have similar performance in terms of material heating as a 50 μm diameter reduced mass target, despite a 900-fold larger mass. The observed enhancement in energy localization and heating in the cone geometry is supported by 2D collisional PIC simulations which indicate the presence of self-generated resistive magnetic field structures (≥ 10 MG) which confine the energetic electrons to the tip region

Study of Non‐LTE Spectra Dependence on Target Mass in Short Pulse Laser Experiments

Backlight sources created from short pulse lasers are useful probes of high energy density plasmas because of their short duration and brightness. Recent work has shown that the production of Kα radiation can be manipulated by the size and geometry of the targets. Empirical relationships suggest that the electron reflux in the target plays an important role in the heating of these targets to create x‐ray backlight sources.