Sun Shao-Hua

Characterization of Femtosecond Laser-Induced Plasma under Low Pressure in Argon*

An experiment of femtosecond laser-induced breakdown in argon with a pressure below normal atmospheric pressure is performed. The breakdown spectrum is mainly due to the electronic relaxation of excited Ar atoms and Ar ions. The lifetimes and characteristics of the Ar plasma are extensively studied by the time-integrated and time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy technique, which is also discussed. Under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), the plasma temperature is calculated. Moreover, the electron density is accessed from the Stark broadening of the ionized argon lines. Finally, the validity of applications of LTE is also discussed.

The Angular Distribution of Optical Emission Spectroscopy from a Femtosecond Laser Filament in Air

Spatial characterization of a femtosecond laser pulse filament in air is experimentally investigated by detecting the optical emission spectroscopy of laser-induced plasmas. It is shown that the intensity of NI spectral lines have different angular distributions along the filament and the calculated results fit the experimental data well. The obtained degree of atomic polarization along the filament strongly depends on the electron density and the propagation characteristic of the femtosecond laser pulse.

Muon radiography technology for detecting high-Z materials

This paper studies the possibility of using the scattering of cosmic muons to identify threatening high-Z materials. Various scenarios of threat material detection are simulated with the Geant4 toolkit. PoCA (Point of Closest Approach) algorithm reconstructing muon track gives 3D radiography images of the target material. Z-discrimination capability, effects of the placement of high-Z materials, shielding materials inside the cargo, and spatial resolution of position sensitive detector for muon radiography are carefully studied. Our results show that a detector position resolution of 50 μm is good enough for shielded materials detection.

Dynamics simulation on the interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters

Under classical particle dynamics, the interaction process between intense femtosecond laser pulses and icosahedral noble-gas atomic clusters was studied. Our calculated results show that ionization proceeds mainly through tunnel ionization in the combined fleld from ions, electrons and laser, rather than the electron-impact ionization. With increasing cluster size, the average and maximum kinetic energy of the product ion increases. According to our calculation, the expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation is dominated by Coulomb explosion and the expansion scale increases with increasing cluster size. The dependence of average kinetic energy and average charge state of the product ions on laser wavelength is also presented and discussed. The dependence of average kinetic energy on the number of atoms inside the cluster was studied and compared with the experimental data. Our results agree with the experimental results reasonably well.

Interaction of intense laser pulses with hydrogen atomic clusters

The interaction between intense femtosecond laser pulses and hydrogen atomic clusters is studied by a simplified Coulomb explosion model. The dependences of average proton kinetic energy on cluster size, pulse duration, laser intensity and wavelength are studied respectively. The calculated results indicate that the irradiation of a femtosecond laser of longer wavelength on hydrogen atomic clusters may be a simple, economical way to produce highly kinetic hydrogen ions. The phenomenon suggests that the irradiation of femtosecond laser of longer wavelength on deuterium atomic clusters may be easier than that of shorter wavelength to drive nuclear fusion reactions. The product of the laser intensity and the squared laser wavelength needed to make proton energy saturated as a function of the squared cluster radius is also investigated. The proton energy distribution calculated is also shown and compared with the experimental data. Our results are in agreement with the experimental results fairly well.