RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Laser-driven ion and electron acceleration from near-critical density gas targets: Towards high-repetition rate operation in the 1 PW, sub-100 fs laser interaction regime
A1 Ospina-Bohórquez, V.
A1 Salgado-López, C.
A1 Ehret, M.
A1 Malko, S.
A1 Salvadori, M.
A1 Pisarczyk, T.
A1 Chodukowski, T.
A1 Rusiniak, Z.
A1 Krupka, M.
A1 Guillon, P.
A1 Lendrin, M.
A1 Vlachos, C.
A1 Hannachi, F.
A1 Tarisien, M.
A1 Consoli, F.
A1 Verona, C.
A1 Prestopino, G.
A1 Dostal, J.
A1 Dudzak, R.
A1 Henares, J. L.
A1 Apiñaniz, J. I.
A1 De Luis, D.
A1 Debayle, A.
A1 Caron, J.
A1 Ceccotti, T.
A1 Hernández-Martín, R.
A1 Hernández-Toro, J.
A1 Huault, M.
A1 Martín-López, A.
A1 Méndez, C.
A1 Nguyen-Bui, T.-H.
A1 Perez-Hernández, J. A.
A1 Vaisseau, X.
A1 Varela, O.
A1 Volpe, L.
A1 Gremillet, L.
A1 Santos, J. J.
A1 Pérez Callejo, Gabriel
AB Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 1990s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low repetition rate. Here, we present measurements on the interaction of ultraintense (≈1e20Wcm−2, 1 PW), ultrashort (≈70fs) Ti:Sa laser pulses with near-critical (≈1e20cm−3) helium gas jets, a debris-free targetry with the potential for future compatibility with high (≈1 Hz) repetition rate operation. We provide evidence of 𝛼 particles being forward accelerated up to ≈2.7−MeV energy with a total flux of ≈1e11sr−1 as integrated over >0.1−MeV energies and detected within a 0.5−mrad solid angle. We also report on on-axis emission of relativistic electrons with an exponentially decaying spectrum characterized by a ≈10−MeV slope, i.e., five times larger than the standard ponderomotive scaling. The total charge of these electrons with energy above 2 MeV is estimated to be of ≈1nC, corresponding to ≈0.1% of the laser drive energy. In addition, we observe the formation of a plasma channel, extending longitudinally across the gas density maximum and expanding radially with time. These results are well captured by large-scale particle-in-cell simulations, which reveal that the detected fast ions most likely originate from reflection off the rapidly expanding channel walls. The latter process is predicted to yield ion energies in the MeV range, which compare well with the measurements. Finally, direct laser acceleration is shown to be the dominant mechanism behind the observed electron energization
PB American Physical Society
SN 2643-1564
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/68100
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/68100
LA eng
NO Physical Review Research, June 2024, 6, 023268
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 18-nov-2024