40 research outputs found
Pair creation in QED-strong pulsed laser fields interacting with electron beams
International audienceQED effects are known to occur in a strong laser pulse interaction with a counterpropagating electron beam, among these effects being electron-positron pair creation. We discuss the range of laser pulse intensities of J>5×1022W/cm2 combined with electron beam energies of tens of GeV. In this regime multiple pairs may be generated from a single beam electron, some of the newborn particles being capable of further pair production. Radiation backreaction prevents avalanche development and limits pair creation. The system of integro-differential kinetic equations for electrons, positrons and ? photons is derived and solved numerically. © 2010 The American Physical Society
Exawatt-Zettawatt Pulse Generation and Applications
A new amplification method, weaving the three basic compression techniques,
Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse
Amplification (OPCPA) and Plasma Compression by Backward Raman Amplification
(BRA) in plasma, is proposed. It is called C3 for Cascaded Conversion
Compression. It has the capability to compress with good efficiency kilojoule
to megajoule, nanosecond laser pulses into femtosecond pulses, to produce
exawatt and beyond peak power. In the future, C3 could be used at large-scale
facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) or the Laser Megajoule
(LMJ) and open the way to zettawatt level pulses. The beam will be focused to a
wavelength spot size with a f#1. The very small beam size, i.e. few
centimeters, along with the low laser repetition rate laser system will make
possible the use of inexpensive, precision, disposable optics. The resulting
intensity will approach the Schwinger value, thus opening up new possibilities
in fundamental physics.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
One-dimensional steady-state structures at relativistic interaction of laser radiation with overdense plasma for finite electron temperature
One-dimensional steady-state plasma-field structures in overdense plasma are
studied assuming that the electron temperature is uniform over plasma bulk and
the ions are stationary. It is shown that there may exist solutions for
electron distributions with cavitation regions in plasma under the action of
ponderomotive forceComment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Simulating Poynting Flux Acceleration in the Laboratory with Colliding Laser Pulses
We review recent PIC simulation results which show that double-sided
irradiation of a thin over-dense plasma slab with ultra-intense laser pulses
from both sides can lead to sustained comoving Poynting flux acceleration of
electrons to energies much higher than the conventional ponderomotive limit.
The result is a robust power-law electron momentum spectrum similar to
astrophysical sources. We discuss future ultra-intense laser experiments that
may be used to simulate astrophysical particle acceleration.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysics and Space Science,
Volume for HEDLA06 conference proceedings, edited by G. Kyrala, in pres
Quantum Vacuum Experiments Using High Intensity Lasers
The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular
since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature
of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the
low-energy, high intensity regime of quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the
nonlinear aspects of the electromagnetic vacuum comes into play, and we will
here give a short description of some of these. Such studies can shed light,
not only on the validity of QED, but also on certain aspects of nonperturbative
effects, and thus also give insights for quantum field theories in general.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figur
Numerical simulations for performance optimization of a few-cycle terawatt NOPCPA system
We present a systematic numerical design and performance study of an ultra-broadband noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (NOPCPA) system. Using a split-step Fourier approach, we model a three-stage amplifier system which is designed for the generation of 7 fs pulses with multi-terawatt peak intensity. The numerical results are compared with recent experimental data. Several important aspects and design parameters specific to NOPCPA are identified, and the values of these parameters required to achieve optimal working conditions are investigated. We identify and analyze wavelength-dependent gain saturation effects, which are specific to NOPCPA and have a strong influence on the parametric amplification process. © Springer-Verlag 2007
Relativistic Laser-Matter Interaction and Relativistic Laboratory Astrophysics
The paper is devoted to the prospects of using the laser radiation
interaction with plasmas in the laboratory relativistic astrophysics context.
We discuss the dimensionless parameters characterizing the processes in the
laser and astrophysical plasmas and emphasize a similarity between the laser
and astrophysical plasmas in the ultrarelativistic energy limit. In particular,
we address basic mechanisms of the charged particle acceleration, the
collisionless shock wave and magnetic reconnection and vortex dynamics
properties relevant to the problem of ultrarelativistic particle acceleration.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figure