Zhimeng Zhang

Transport of fast electrons in a nanowire array with collisional effects included

The transport of picosecond laser generated fast electrons in a nanowire array is studied with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Our simulations show that a fast electron beam is initially guided and collimated by strong magnetic filaments in the array. Subsequently, after the decomposition of the structure of nanowire array due to plasma expansion, the beam is still collimated by the resistive magnetic field. An analytical model is established to give a criterion for long-term beam collimation in a nanowire array; it indicates that the nanowire cell should be wide enough to keep the beam collimated in picosecond scale.

Guiding and collimating fast electron beam by the quasi-static electromagnetic field array

A guidance and collimation scheme for fast electron beam in a traverse periodic quasi-static electromagnetic field array is proposed with the semi-analytic method and the particle-in-cell simulation. The sheath electric fields on the surfaces of nanowires and the magnetic fields around the nanowires form a traverse periodic quasi-static electromagnetic field array. Therefore, most of the fast electrons are confined at the nanowire surfaces and transport forward. More importantly, due to the divergent property of the beams, the magnitudes of the generated fields decrease with the target depth. The lateral momenta of the electrons convert into the forward momenta through Lorenz force, and they cannot recover their initial values. Therefore, the fast electrons can be guided and collimated efficiently in the gaps between the nanowires. In our particle-in-cell simulations, the observed guiding efficiency exceeds 80% compared with the reference target.

Effect of inside diameter of tip on proton beam produced by intense laser pulse on double-layer cone targets

The laser-driven acceleration of proton beams from a double-layer cone target, comprised of a cone shaped high-Z material target with a low density proton layer, is investigated via two-dimensional fully relativistic electro-magnetic particle-in-cell simulations. The dependence of the inside diameter (ID) of the tip size of a double-layer cone target on proton beam characteristics is demonstrated. Our results show that the peak energy of proton beams significantly increases and the divergence angle decreases with decreasing ID size. This can be explained by the combined effects of a stronger laser field that is focused inside the cone target and a larger laser interaction area by reducing the ID size.

Measurements of X-ray doses and spectra produced by picosecond laser-irradiated solid targets

Experiments have shown that high-intensity laser interaction with a solid target can generate significant X-ray doses. This study was conducted to determine the X-ray doses and spectra produced for picosecond laser-irradiated solid targets. The photon doses and X-ray spectra in the laser forward and side directions were measured using an XG III ps 300 TW laser system. For laser intensities of 7×1018-4×1019W/cm2, the maximum photon dose was 16.8 mSv at 50cm with a laser energy of ~153J on a 1-mm Ta target. The photon dose in the forward direction increased more significantly with increasing laser intensity than that in the side direction. For photon energies >300keV, the X-ray spectrum can be fit with an effective temperature distribution of the exponential form, dN/dE = k× exp(-E/Tx). The X-ray temperature Tx increased with the laser intensity in the forward direction with values of 0.46-0.75MeV. Tx was less strongly correlated with the laser intensity in the side direction with values of 0.29-0.32MeV. The escaping electron spectrum was also measured. The measured electron temperature was correlated with the electron temperature predicted by the ponderomotive law. The observations in this experiment were also investigated numerically. A good agreement was observed between the experimental and simulation results.

New scheme for enhancement of maximum proton energy with a cone-hole target irradiated by a short intense laser pulse

Improvement of proton energy from short intense laser interaction with a new proposal of a cone-hole target is investigated via two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The configuration of the target is a cone structure with a hole of changeable diameter through the center of the tip, with proton layers contaminated both on the target rear surface and at the rear part of the hole. In the interacting process, the cone-hole geometry enables the focus of the laser pulse by the cone structure and the consequent penetration of the intensified laser through the tip along the hole instead of reflection, which can increase the energy coupling from laser field to plasmas. The heated electrons, following the target normal sheath acceleration scheme, induce a much stronger electrostatic field in the longitudinal direction at the rear surface of the target than that in the traditional foil case. The simulation results indicate that the accelerated proton beam from the cone-hole target has a cutoff energy about ...

Envelope matching for enhanced backward Raman amplification by using self-ionizing plasmas

Backward Raman amplification (BRA) in plasmas has been promoted as a means for generating ultrapowerful laser pulses. For the purpose of achieving the maximum intensities over the shortest distances, an envelope matching between the seed pulse and the amplification gain is required, i.e., the seed pulse propagates at the same velocity with the gain such that the peak of the seed pulse can always enjoy the maximum gain. However, such an envelope matching is absent in traditional BRA because in the latter the amplification gain propagates at superluminous velocity while the seed pulse propagates at the group velocity, which is less than the speed of light. It is shown here that, by using self-ionizing plasmas, the speed of the amplification gain can be well reduced to reach the envelope matching regime. This results in a favorable BRA process, in which higher saturated intensity, shorter interaction length and higher energy-transfer efficiency are achieved.

Enhanced x-rays from resonant betatron oscillations in laser wakefield with external wigglers

Generation of ultra-short betatron x-rays by laser-accelerated electron beams is of great research interest as it has many applications. In this paper, we propose a scheme for obtaining bright betatron x-rays by applying external wiggler magnetic field in the laser wakefield to resonantly drive the betatron oscillations of the accelerated electrons therein. This results in a significant enhancement of the betatron oscillation amplitude and generation of bright x-rays with high photon energy. The scheme is demonstrated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and discussed using a simple analytical model.

Refluxed electrons direct laser acceleration in ultrahigh laser and relativistic critical density plasma interaction

Refluxed electrons direct laser acceleration is proposed so as to generate a high-charge energetic electron beam. When a laser pulse is incident on a relativistic critical density target, the rising edge of the pulse heats the target and the sheath fields on the both sides of the target reflux some electrons inside the expanding target. These electrons can be trapped and accelerated due to the self-transparency and the negative longitudinal electrostatic field in the expanding target. Some of the electrons can be accelerated to energies exceeding the ponderomotive limit 1/2a02mc2. Effective temperature significantly above the ponderomotive scaling is observed. Furthermore, due to the limited expanding length, the laser propagating instabilities are suppressed in the interaction. Thus, high collimated beams with tens of μC charge can be generated.

High-efficiency acceleration in the laser wakefield by a linearly increasing plasma density

The acceleration length and the peak energy of the electron beam are limited by the dephasing effect in the laser wakefield acceleration with uniform plasma density. Based on 2D-3V particle in cell simulations, the effects of a linearly increasing plasma density on the electron acceleration are investigated broadly. Comparing with the uniform plasma density, because of the prolongation of the acceleration length and the gradually increasing accelerating field due to the increasing plasma density, the electron beam energy is twice higher in moderate nonlinear wakefield regime. Because of the lower plasma density, the linearly increasing plasma density can also avoid the dark current caused by additional injection. At the optimal acceleration length, the electron energy can be increased from 350 MeV (uniform) to 760 MeV (linearly increasing) with the energy spread of 1.8%, the beam duration is 5 fs and the beam waist is 1.25 μm. This linearly increasing plasma density distribution can be achieved by a capillary with special gas-filled structure, and is much more suitable for experiment.

Effects of plasma density on laser-generated energetic electron generation and transport in a plasma channel

We use two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to investigate how the plasma density n0 of the channel target affects energetic-electron generation and transportation. The simulations show that the optimum plasma-density regime is 10 ≤ n0 ≤ 25 for the present simulation parameters, which results in a peak energy flux and coupling efficiency from laser to electrons. In this case, the laser beam propagates stably in the channel, which has the advantage of increasing the acceleration length and more effectively generating high-energy electrons. Furthermore, the high-current electron beam and the density modulation induce strong azimuthal magnetic fields and double-layer radial electric fields around the inner surface of the channel, which consistently guide and collimate the hot-electron bunch so that it propagates over rather long times and distances. Upon further increasing the plasma density n0, the hot electrons are scattered out of the channel by the damped laser pulse and the reduced quasistatic interface electromagnetic fields, reducing the long-time transport. The use of a proper plasma-density channel stably guides the relativistically intense laser pulse and greatly improves the properties of the electron beam.