562 research outputs found
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Femtosecond Pump-Probe Diagnostics Of Preformed Plasma Channels
We report on recent ultrafast pump-probe experiments 28 in He plasma waveguides using 800 nm, 80 fs pump pulses of 0.2 x 1018 W/cm2 peak guided intensity, and single orthogonally-polarized 800 nm probe pulses with similar to0.1% of pump intensity. The main results are: (1) We observe frequency-domain interference between the probe and a weak, depolarized component of the pump that differs substantially in mode shape from the injected pump pulse; (2) we observe spectral blue-shifts in the transmitted probe that are not evident in the transmitted pump. The evidence indicates that pump depolarization and probe blue-shifts both originate near the channel entrance.Physic
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Optimization of the neutron yield in fusion plasmas produced by Coulomb explosions of deuterium clusters irradiated by a petawatt laser
The kinetic energy of hot (multi-keV) ions from the laser-driven Coulomb explosion of deuterium clusters and the resulting fusion yield in plasmas formed from these exploding clusters has been investigated under a variety of conditions using the Texas Petawatt laser. An optimum laser intensity was found for producing neutrons in these cluster fusion plasmas with corresponding average ion energies of 14 keV. The substantial volume (1-10 mm(3)) of the laser-cluster interaction produced by the petawatt peak power laser pulse led to a fusion yield of 1.6x10(7) neutrons in a single shot with a 120 J, 170 fs laser pulse. Possible effects of prepulses are discussed. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.023106Glenn Focht Memorial FellowshipNNSA DE-FC52-08NA28512DOE Office of Basic Energy SciencesPhysic
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The Texas Petawatt Laser And Current Experiments
The Texas Petawatt Laser is operational with experimental campaigns executed in both F/40 and F3 target chambers. Recent improvements have resulted in intensities of >2x10(21) W/cm(2) on target. Experimental highlights include, accelerated electron energies of >2 GeV, DD fusion ion temperatures >25 keV and isochorically heated solids to 10-50 eV.Physic
Bogoliubov Excitations of Disordered Bose-Einstein Condensates
We describe repulsively interacting Bose-Einstein condensates in spatially
correlated disorder potentials of arbitrary dimension. The first effect of
disorder is to deform the mean-field condensate. Secondly, the quantum
excitation spectrum and condensate population are affected. By a saddle-point
expansion of the many-body Hamiltonian around the deformed mean-field ground
state, we derive the fundamental quadratic Hamiltonian of quantum fluctuations.
Importantly, a basis is used such that excitations are orthogonal to the
deformed condensate. Via Bogoliubov-Nambu perturbation theory, we compute the
effective excitation dispersion, including mean free paths and localization
lengths. Corrections to the speed of sound and average density of states are
calculated, due to correlated disorder in arbitrary dimensions, extending to
the case of weak lattice potentials.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure
Measurement of the plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He reaction in exploding molecular clusters
The plasma astrophysical S factor for the 3He(D, p)4He fusion reaction was
measured for the first time at temperatures of few keV, using the interaction
of intense ultrafast laser pulses with molecular deuterium clusters mixed with
3He atoms. Different proportions of D2 and 3He or CD4 and 3He were mixed in the
gas jet target in order to allow the measurement of the cross-section for the
3He(D, p)4He reaction. The yield of 14.7 MeV protons from the 3He(D, p)4He
reaction was measured in order to extract the astrophysical S factor at low
energies. Our result is in agreement with other S factor parameterizations
found in the literature
Experimental study of fusion neutron and proton yields produced by petawatt-laser-irradiated D2-3He or CD4-3He clustering gases
We report on experiments in which the Texas Petawatt laser irradiated a
mixture of deuterium or deuterated methane clusters and helium-3 gas,
generating three types of nuclear fusion reactions: D(d, 3He)n, D(d, t)p and
3He(d, p)4He. We measured the yields of fusion neutrons and protons from these
reactions and found them to agree with yields based on a simple cylindrical
plasma model using known cross sections and measured plasma parameters. Within
our measurement errors, the fusion products were isotropically distributed.
Plasma temperatures, important for the cross sections, were determined by two
independent methods: (1) deuterium ion time-of-flight, and (2) utilizing the
ratio of neutron yield to proton yield from D(d, 3He)n and 3He(d, p)4He
reactions, respectively. This experiment produced the highest ion temperature
ever achieved with laser-irradiated deuterium clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
Temperature measurements of fusion plasmas produced by petawatt laser-irradiated D2-3He or CD4-3He clustering gases
Two different methods have been employed to determine the plasma temperature
in a laser-cluster fusion experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. In the first,
the temperature was derived from time-of-flight data of deuterium ions ejected
from exploding D2 or CD4 clusters. In the second, the temperature was measured
from the ratio of the rates of two different nuclear fusion reactions occurring
in the plasma at the same time: D(d, 3He)n and 3He(d, p)4He. The temperatures
determined by these two methods agree well, which indicates that: i) The ion
energy distribution is not significantly distorted when ions travel in the
disassembling plasma; ii) The kinetic energy of deuterium ions, especially the
hottest part responsible for nuclear fusion, is well described by a
near-Maxwellian distribution.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
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