Zheng-Ming Sheng

Particle acceleration in relativistic laser channels

Energy spectra of ions and fast electrons accelerated by a channeling laser pulse in near-critical plasma are studied using three-dimensional (3D) Particle-In-Cell simulations. The realistic 3D geometry of the simulations allows us to obtain not only the shape of the spectra, but also the absolute numbers of accelerated particles. It is shown that ions are accelerated by a collisionless radial expansion of the channel and have nonthermal energy spectra. The electron energy spectra instead are Boltzmann-like. The effective temperature Teff scales as I1/2. The form of electron spectra and Teff depends also on the length of the plasma channel. The major mechanism of electron acceleration in relativistic channels is identified. Electrons make transverse betatron oscillations in the self-generated static electric and magnetic fields. When the betatron frequency coincides with the laser frequency as witnessed by the relativistic electron, a resonance occurs, leading to an effective energy exchange between the l...

Enhanced collimated GeV monoenergetic ion acceleration from a shaped foil target irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse.

Using multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations we study ion acceleration from a foil irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse at 10;{22} W/cm;{2} intensity. When the foil is shaped initially in the transverse direction to match the laser intensity profile, three different regions (acceleration, transparency, and deformation region) are observed. In the acceleration region, the foil can be uniformly accelerated for a longer time compared to a usual flat target. Undesirable plasma heating is effectively suppressed. The final energy spectrum of the accelerated ion beam in the acceleration region is improved dramatically. Collimated GeV quasi-monoenergetic ion beams carrying as much as 19% of the laser energy are observed in multidimensional simulations.

Fast ignition by laser driven particle beams of very high intensity

Anomalous observations using the fast ignition for laser driven fusion energy are interpreted and experimental and theoretical results are reported which are in contrast to the very numerous effects usually observed at petawatt-picosecond laser interaction with plasmas. These anomalous mechanisms result in rather thin blocks (pistons) of these nonlinear (ponderomotive) force driven highly directed plasmas of modest temperatures. The blocks consist in space charge neutral plasmas with ion current densities above 1010A∕cm2. For the needs of applications in laser driven fusion energy, much thicker blocks are required. This may be reached by a spherical configuration where a conical propagation may lead to thick blocks for interaction with targets. First results are reported in view of applications for the proton fast igniter and other laser-fusion energy schemes.

Powerful terahertz emission from laser wake fields excited in inhomogeneous plasmas

Powerful coherent emission of broadband few-terahertz radiation can be produced from a laser wake field by linear mode conversion. This occurs when the laser pulse is incident obliquely to the density gradient of inhomogeneous plasmas. The emission spectrum and conversion efficiency predicted by mode conversion theory are in agreement with particle-in-cell simulations. The energy conversion efficiency from laser pulses to this low-frequency emission scales proportional to their frequency ratio by (ω∕ω0)3 and increases with the laser intensity and the plasma density scale length. By adjusting the laser pulse duration and plasma density profiles, one can control the emission frequency, bandwidth, and duration. In two- and three-dimensional geometry, conical wake emission is found in the backward direction when the laser pulse propagates along the density gradient. This can be explained well by the linear mode conversion. To avoid conical emission, a laser pulse incident obliquely to the density gradient can...

Laser mode effects on the ion acceleration during circularly polarized laser pulse interaction with foil targets

Ion acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulses interacting with foil targets is studied using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that laser pulses with transverse super-Gaussian profile help in avoiding target deformation as compared with the usual Gaussian pulse. This improves monochromaticity of the accelerated ion spectrum. Two kinds of surface instabilities have been found during the interaction. These instabilities can potentially break the target and destroy the quasimonoenergetic character of the final ion spectrum. Combined laser pulses with super-Hermite and Gaussian modes are used to improve the ion acceleration and transverse collimation.

Electron injection and trapping in a laser wakefield by field ionization to high-charge states of gases

A scheme for electron injection into a laser wakefield is presented, which makes use of two orthogonally directed laser pulses and a gaseous medium with a moderate or high atomic number such as neon. A pump laser pulse ionizes the medium to its midcharge states to form underdense plasma and meanwhile excites a high amplitude wakefield firstly. Another ultrashort laser pulse with higher intensity is then injected transversely, which further ionizes the medium to high-charge states to produce new free electrons with certain energy. Part of these new-born electrons can be trapped and accelerated by the laser wakefield to high energies. Numerical simulations using a particle-in-cell code with field ionization included are conducted to verify the scheme.

Direct observation of turbulent magnetic fields in hot, dense laser produced plasmas

Turbulence in fluids is a ubiquitous, fascinating, and complex natural phenomenon that is not yet fully understood. Unraveling turbulence in high density, high temperature plasmas is an even bigger challenge because of the importance of electromagnetic forces and the typically violent environments. Fascinating and novel behavior of hot dense matter has so far been only indirectly inferred because of the enormous difficulties of making observations on such matter. Here, we present direct evidence of turbulence in giant magnetic fields created in an overdense, hot plasma by relativistic intensity (1018W/cm2) femtosecond laser pulses. We have obtained magneto-optic polarigrams at femtosecond time intervals, simultaneously with micrometer spatial resolution. The spatial profiles of the magnetic field show randomness and their k spectra exhibit a power law along with certain well defined peaks at scales shorter than skin depth. Detailed two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations delineate the underlying interaction between forward currents of relativistic energy “hot” electrons created by the laser pulse and “cold” return currents of thermal electrons induced in the target. Our results are not only fundamentally interesting but should also arouse interest on the role of magnetic turbulence induced resistivity in the context of fast ignition of laser fusion, and the possibility of experimentally simulating such structures with respect to the sun and other stellar environments.

Phase-sensitive terahertz emission from gas targets irradiated by few-cycle laser pulses

The effect of the carrier envelope phase (CEP) of few-cycle laser pulses on terahertz (THz) emission from gas targets is investigated by analysis and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. For linearly polarized (LP) light, the THz amplitude depends on the CEP phase sinusoidally. For circularly polarized (CP) light, the THz amplitude is independent of the phase, but its polarization plane rotates with the phase. By measuring the THz amplitude or polarization direction, one can determine the CEP of LP or CP laser pulses, respectively. We find that when the ionization degree of atoms is lower than 10%, the phase dependence of the THz radiation is insensitive to intensity and duration of the laser pulse, which is preferable for the phase determination.

Strong terahertz pulse generation by chirped laser pulses in tenuous gases

Mechanism of terahertz (THz) pulse generation in gases irradiated by ultrashort laser pulses is investigated theoretically. Quasi-static transverse currents produced by laser field ionization of gases and the longitudinal modulation in formed plasmas are responsible for the THz emission at the electron plasma frequency, as demonstrated by particle-in-cell simulations including field ionization. The THz field amplitude scales linearly with the laser amplitude, which, however, holds only when the latter is at a moderate level. To overcome this limitation, we propose a scheme using chirped laser pulses irradiating on tenuous gas or plasma targets, which can generate THz pulses with amplitude 10-100 times larger than that from the well-known two-color laser scheme, enabling one to obtain THz field up to 10MV/cm with incident laser at approximately 10(16)W/cm(2).

Dense quasi-monoenergetic attosecond electron bunches from laser interaction with wire and slice targets

A scheme is proposed to produce high-quality quasi-monoenergetic attosecond electron bunches based on laser ponderomotive-force acceleration along the surface of wire or slice targets. Two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that the electron energy depends weakly on the target density. A simple analytical model shows that the electron energy scales linearly with the laser field amplitude, in good agreement with the simulation results. Electron bunches produced by this scheme are suitable for applications such as coherent x-ray radiation, radiography, and injectors in accelerators, etc.