Numerical modeling of radiation-dominated and quantum-electrodynamically strong regimes of laser-plasma interaction (original) (raw)
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39th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics and the 16th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 2012
Several laser systems operating in the petawatt and multipetawatt regimes will soon be available in Europe [1]. Extreme light interaction with plasmas on these forthcoming laser facilities will be characterized by a copious emission of high-energy photons (in the hard X-ray and γ-domains) due to strongly accelerated/decelerated electrons. At laser intensities beyond 10 22 W/cm 2 , a non-negligible part of the incident laser power is radiated away, and the back-
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A comprehensive theory is proposed to describe the propagation and absorption of ultra-intense, short laser pulse through the under-dense plasma. The kinetic aspects of plasma are fully incorporated using extensive particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. It is turned out that the plasma behavior is characterized by both its density and the ratio of the pulse length to the plasma wavelength. According to exact analyses and direct simulation evidences, at ultra-low densities the laser pulse is adiabatically depleted (absorbed) by the wake excitation. And the depletion is accompanied by the overall radiation red-shift. At these densities, for pulse lengths larger than the plasma wavelength the Raman type scatterings also occur without causing instability. When the plasma density grows toward the critical density, a completely new regime appears with the main character of highly unsteady light propagation. Here, based on analyses and simulations, the radiation pressure induced wave breaking...
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Over the last few years we have witnessed extremely rapid progress in laser technology. The laser intensity I has increased by two orders of magnitude every couple of years and has now reached a value of I ~ 10 21 W cm-2 in the radiation emitted by petawatt lasers . The electric field of these pulses is of the order of 10 12 V cm-1 , significantly exceeding the interatomic field. Such a large electric field fully ionizes the matter with which it interacts and can force the electrons in the plasma to oscillate with relativistic energy. In these regimes the specific features of the nonlinear dynamics of collision less plasmas and their interaction with electromagnetic waves become very important and attractive for theoretical studies.
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Nonlinear theory of intense laser-plasma interactions
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The classical nonlinear laser-plasma interaction theory is corrected. Given the effects of vacuum polarization (induced by extreme laser) as nonlinear media response, one-dimensional wave equations of a monochromatic laser field are derived from the Heisenberg-Euler Lagrangian density and a derivative correction with the first order quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects. A more suitable model to formulate the interactions of extreme laser and high-energy-density plasma is developed. In the results, the enhanced effect of vacuum polarization will be discussed and shown.
We study the laser-matter interaction via optical-field ionization of a medium in a focused ultrashort laser pulse by means of the finite-difference-time-domain modeling of Maxwell’s equations. General aspects of the ionization-induced dynamics with TE- and TM-polarized laser pulses are analyzed. It is shown that there are two qualitatively different regimes of the interaction depending on the angle of the laser beam focusing. At comparatively low angles plasma distributions are smooth; however, due to departure from the quasioptical behavior of light rays in self-generated plasma, lateral large-scaled plasma structures can also be produced, leading to additional beam focusing and correspondingly to higher electron densities. At tight focusing, small-scaled plasma structures are generated that strongly influence field distribution, energy deposition, and scattering characteristics. The influence of electron collisions and the Kerr effect are also analyzed.