86 research outputs found
Tailored laser pulse chirp to maintain optimum radiation pressure acceleration of ions
Ion beams generated with ultra-intense lasers-plasma accelerators hold
promises to provide compact and affordable beams of relativistic ions. One of
the most efficient acceleration setups was demonstrated to be direct
acceleration by the laser's radiation pressure. Due to plasma instabilities
developing in the ultra-thin foils required for radiation pressure
acceleration, however, it is challenging to maintain stable acceleration over
long distances. Recent studies demonstrated, on the other hand, that specially
tailored laser pulses can shorten the required acceleration distance
suppressing the onset of plasma instabilities. Here we extend the concept of
specific laser pulse shapes to the experimentally accessible parameter of a
frequency chirp. We present a novel analysis of how a laser pulse chirp may be
used to drive a foil target constantly maintaining optimal radiation pressure
acceleration conditions for in dependence on the target's areal density and the
laser's local field strength. Our results indicate that an appropriately
frequency chirped laser pulse yields a significantly enhanced acceleration to
higher energies and over longer distances suppressing the onset of plasma
instabilities.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Nonlinear Compton scattering in ultra-short laser pulses
A detailed analysis of the photon emission spectra of an electron scattered
by a laser pulse containing only very few cycles of the carrying
electromagnetic field is presented. The analysis is performed in the framework
of strong-field quantum electrodynamics, with the laser field taken into
account exactly in the calculations. We consider different emission regimes
depending on the laser intensity, placing special emphasis on the regime of
one-cycle beams and of high laser intensities, where the emission spectra
depend nonperturbatively on the laser intensity. In this regime we in
particular present an accurate stationary phase analysis of the integrals that
are shown to determine the computed emission spectra. The emission spectra show
significant differences with respect to those in a long pulsed or monochromatic
laser field: the emission lines obtained here are much broader and, more
important, no dressing of the electron mass is observed.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figure
Time-dependent Kohn-Sham approach to quantum electrodynamics
We prove a generalization of the van Leeuwen theorem towards quantum
electrodynamics, providing the formal foundations of a time-dependent Kohn-Sham
construction for coupled quantized matter and electromagnetic fields. Thereby
we circumvent the symmetry-causality problems associated with the
action-functional approach to Kohn-Sham systems. We show that the effective
external four-potential and four-current of the Kohn-Sham system are uniquely
defined and that the effective four-current takes a very simple form. Further
we rederive the Runge-Gross theorem for quantum electrodynamics.Comment: 8 page
Ultra-intense laser pulse characterization using ponderomotive electron scattering
We present a new analytical solution for the equation of motion of relativistic electrons in the focus of a high-intensity laser pulse. We approximate the electron's transverse dynamics in the averaged field of a long laser pulse focused to a Gaussian transverse profile. The resultant ponderomotive scattering is found to feature an upper boundary of the electrons' scattering angles, depending on the laser parameters and the electrons' initial state of motion. In particular, we demonstrate the angles into which the electrons are scattered by the laser scale as a simple relation of their initial energy to the laser's amplitude. We find two regimes to be distinguished in which either the laser's focusing or peak power are the main drivers of ponderomotive scattering. Based on this result, we demonstrate how the intensity of a laser pulse can be determined from a ring-shaped pattern in the spatial distribution of a high-energy electron beam scattered from the laser. We confirm our analysis by means of detailed relativistic test particle simulations of the electrons' averaged ponderomotive dynamics in the full electromagnetic fields of the focused laser pulse
Quantum anti-quenching of radiation from laser-driven structured plasma channels
We demonstrate that in the interaction of a high-power laser pulse with a
structured solid-density plasma-channel, clear quantum signatures of stochastic
radiation emission manifest, disclosing a novel avenue to studying the
quantized nature of photon emission. In contrast to earlier findings we observe
that the total radiated energy for very short interaction times, achieved by
studying thin plasma channel targets, is significantly larger in a quantum
radiation model as compared to a calculation including classical radiation
reaction, i.e., we observe quantum anti-quenching. By means of a detailed
analytical analysis and a refined test particle model, corroborated by a full
kinetic plasma simulation, we demonstrate that this counter-intuitive behavior
is due to the constant supply of energy to the setup through the driving laser.
We comment on an experimental realization of the proposed setup, feasible at
upcoming high-intensity laser facilities, since the required thin targets can
be manufactured and the driving laser pulses provided with existing technology.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Tailored laser pulse chirp to maintain optimum radiation pressure acceleration of ions
Ion beams generated with ultra-intense laser-plasma accelerators hold promises to provide compact and affordable beams of relativistic ions. One of the most efficient acceleration setups was demonstrated to be direct acceleration by the laser's radiation pressure. Due to plasma instabilities developing in the ultra-thin foils required for radiation pressure acceleration, however, it is challenging to maintain stable acceleration over long distances. Recent studies demonstrated, on the other hand, that specially tailored laser pulses can shorten the required acceleration distance suppressing the onset of plasma instabilities. Here, we extend the concept of specific laser pulse shapes to the experimentally accessible parameter of a frequency chirp. We present a novel analysis of how a laser pulse chirp may be used to drive a foil target constantly maintaining optimal radiation pressure acceleration conditions for in dependence on the target's areal density and the laser's local field strength. Our results indicate that an appropriately frequency chirped laser pulse yields a significantly enhanced acceleration to higher energies and over longer distances suppressing the onset of plasma instabilities. Published under license by AIP Publishing
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