Radiation Reaction Effects on Electron Nonlinear Dynamics and Ion Acceleration in Laser-solid Interaction

Radiation Reaction (RR) effects in the interaction of an ultra-intense laser pulse with a thin plasma foil are investigated analytically and by two-dimensional (2D3P) Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations. It is found that the radiation reaction force leads to a significant electron cooling and to an increased spatial bunching of both electrons and ions. A fully relativistic kinetic equation including RR effects is discussed and it is shown that RR leads to a contraction of the available phase space volume. The results of our PIC simulations are in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the kinetic theory

Dense monoenergetic proton beams from chirped laser-plasma interaction

Interaction of a frequency-chirped laser pulse with single protons and a hydrogen plasma cell is studied analytically and by means of particle-in-cell simulations, respectively. Feasibility of generating ultra-intense (10^7 particles per bunch) and phase-space collimated beams of protons (energy spread of about 1 %) is demonstrated. Phase synchronization of the protons and the laser field, guaranteed by the appropriate chirping of the laser pulse, allows the particles to gain sufficient kinetic energy (around 250 MeV) required for such applications as hadron cancer therapy, from state-of-the-art laser systems of intensities of the order of 10^21 W/cm^2.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Extreme laser-matter interactions: kinetic modeling of relativistic, ultrarelativistic and radiation dominated plasma

This cumulative thesis presents a summary of contributions made by the author over the past twelve years and dedicated to the theory of relativistic plasma driven by intense electromagnetic radiation. The studies are devoted to four research topics: (i) laser acceleration of ions; (ii) collisionless absorption of laser radiation in plasma and generation of hot electrons; (iii) interaction of intense laser radiation with microdroplets; (iv) interaction of laser radiation of extreme intensity with plasma in the radiation-dominated regime