Xiao-Ya Li

Intense terahertz emission from relativistic circularly polarized laser pulses interaction with overdense plasmas

During the interaction of a relativistic circularly polarized laser pulse with an overdense plasma target, the longitudinal motion of bunches of electrons under the action of light pressure and electrostatic restore force can emit intense terahertz (THz) pulses. This mechanism allows high pump laser intensity and large electron number participating in the emission. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to investigate the THz emission. The results suggest that such a source can produce remarkably intense THz pulses with energy of several mJ/sr and power of tens of gigawatts, which could find applications in nonlinear studies and relativistic laser-plasma interaction diagnostics.

Influence of lateral target size on hot electron production and electromagnetic pulse emission from laser-irradiated metallic targets

The influences of lateral target size on hot electron production and electromagnetic pulse emission from laser interaction with metallic targets have been investigated. Particle-in-cell simulations at high laser intensities show that the yield of hot electrons tends to increase with lateral target size, because the larger surface area reduces the electrostatic field on the target, owing to its expansion along the target surface. At lower laser intensities and longer time scales, experimental data characterizing electromagnetic pulse emission as a function of lateral target size also show target-size effects. Charge separation and a larger target tending to have a lower target potential have both been observed. The increase in radiation strength and downshift in radiation frequency with increasing lateral target size can be interpreted using a simple model of the electrical capacity of the target.

Intense isolated few-cycle attosecond XUV pulses from overdense plasmas driven by tailored laser pulses

A new scheme to generate an intense isolated few-cycle attosecond XUV pulse is demonstrated using particle-in-cell simulations. By use of unipolarlike or subcycle laser pulses irradiating a thin foil target, a strong transverse net current can be excited, which emits a few-cycle XUV pulse from the target rear side. The isolated pulse is ultrashort in the time domain with duration of several hundred attoseconds. The pulse also has a narrow bandwidth in the spectral domain compared to other XUV sources of high-order harmonics. It has most energy confined around the plasma frequency and no low-harmonic orders below the plasma frequency. It is also shown that XUV pulse of peak field strength up to 8 × 10(12) Vm(-1) can be produced. Without the need for pulse selecting and spectral filtering, such an intense few-cycle XUV pulse is better suited to a number of applications.

Isolated elliptically polarized attosecond soft X-ray with high-brilliance using polarization gating of harmonics from relativistic plasmas at oblique incidence

The production of intense isolated attosecond pulse is a major goal in ultrafast research. Recent advances in high harmonic generation from relativistic plasma mirrors under oblique incidence interactions gave rise to photon-rich attosecond pulses with circular or elliptical polarization. However, to achieve an isolated elliptical attosecond pulse via polarization gating using currently available long driving pulses remains a challenge, because polarization gating of high harmonics from relativistic plasmas is assumed only possible at normal or near-normal incidence. Here we numerically demonstrate a scheme around this problem. We show that via control of plasma dynamics by managing laser polarization, it is possible to gate an intense single attosecond pulse with high ellipticity extending to the soft X-ray regime at oblique incidence. This approach thus paves the way towards a powerful tool enabling high-time-resolution probe of dynamics of chiral systems and magnetic materials with current laser technology.

The effects of pulse duration on ablation pressure driven by laser radiation

The effects of laser pulse duration on the ablation pressure induced by laser radiation are investigated using Al target. Numerical simulation results using one dimensional radiation hydro code for laser intensities from 5×1012W/cm2 to 5×1013W/cm2 and pulse durations from 0.5u2009ns to 20u2009ns are presented. These results suggest that the laser intensity scaling law of ablation pressure differs for different pulse durations. And the theoretical analysis shows that the effects of laser pulse duration on ablation pressure are mainly caused by two regimes: the unsteady-state flow and the radiative energy loss to vacuum.

The interference effect of laser-assisted bremsstrahlung emission in Coulomb fields of two nuclei

In this paper, the spontaneous bremsstrahlung emission from an electron scattered by two fixed nuclei in an intense laser field is investigated in details based upon the Volkov state and the Dirac-Volkov propagator. It has been found that the fundamental harmonic spectrum from the electron radiation exhibits distinctive fringes, which is dependent not only upon the internucleus distance and orientation, but also upon the initial energy of the electron and the laser intensity. By analyzing the differential cross section, we are able to explain these effects in terms of interference among the electron scattering by the nuclei. These results could have promising applications in probing the atomic or molecular dressed potentials in intense laser fields.

Hot-electron refluxing enhanced relativistic transparency of overdense plasmas

A new phenomenon of an enhanced relativistic transparency of overdense plasmas by the influence of hot-electron refluxing has been discovered via particle-in-cell simulations. When a p-polarized laser pulse, with intensity below the self-induced-transparency (SIT) threshold, obliquely irradiates a thin overdense plasma, the initially opaque plasma becomes transparent after a time interval that is linearly dependent on the thickness of the plasma. This phenomenon can be interpreted as a consequence of hot-electron refluxing, which reduces the effective electron density by longitudinal heating. When the laser intensity is higher than the SIT threshold, the penetration velocity of the laser in the plasma is enhanced when the refluxing is present.

Harmonic generation from free electrons in intense laser fields: classical versus semi-classical theory

In this paper, a detailed numerical comparison of the high-harmonic generation (HHG) from free electrons in intense laser fields in both classical and semi-classical frameworks has been presented. These two frameworks have been widely used in the literature. It has been found that the HHG spectra display distinct quantitative differences for high-energy electrons. In some special situations, qualitative differences appear. Even if the radiation reaction is included in the electron classical dynamics, no consistent result can be obtained. Hence it should be of critical importance to submit the present HHG theory for high-precision experimental tests, which can help us not only to justify the present theories, but also to check the QED predictions in the high-intensity regime.

Influence of the intensity gradient upon HHG from free electrons scattered by an intense laser beam

When an electron is scattered by a tightly focused laser beam in vacuum, the intensity gradient is a critical factor to influence the electron dynamics. In this paper, we have further investigated its influence upon the electron high-harmonic generation (HHG) by treating the spacial gradient of the laser intensity as a ponderomotive potential. Based upon perturbative quantum electrodynamics calculations, it has been found that the main effect of the intensity gradient is the broadening of the originally line HHG spectra. A one-to-one relationship can be built between the beam width and the corresponding line width. Hence, this finding may provide us a promising way to measure the beam width of intense lasers in experiments. In addition, for a laser pulse, we have also studied the different influences from transverse and longitudinal intensity gradients upon HHG.