130 research outputs found
Ultrashort PW laser pulse interaction with target and ion acceleration
We present the experimental results on ion acceleration by petawatt
femtosecond laser solid interaction and explore strategies to enhance ion
energy. The irradiation of micrometer thick (0.2 - 6.0 micron) Al foils with a
virtually unexplored intensity regime (8x10^19 W/cm^2 - 1x10^21 W/cm^2)
resulting in ion acceleration along the rear and the front surface target
normal direction is investigated. The maximum energy of protons and carbon
ions, obtained at optimised laser intensity condition (by varying laser energy
or focal spot size), exhibit a rapid intensity scaling as I^0.8 along the rear
surface target normal direction and I^0.6 along the front surface target normal
direction. It was found that proton energy scales much faster with laser energy
rather than the laser focal spot size. Additionally, the ratio of maximum ion
energy along the both directions is found to be constant for the broad range of
target thickness and laser intensities. A proton flux is strongly dominated in
the forward direction at relatively low laser intensities. Increasing the laser
intensity results in the gradual increase in the backward proton flux and leads
to almost equalisation of ion flux in both directions in the entire energy
range. These experimental findings may open new perspectives for applications.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 3rd EAAC worksho
Energetic beams of negative and neutral hydrogen from intense laser plasma interaction
One of the most striking demonstrations of intermolecular forces is the tension at the surface of liquid n-alkanes. The prediction of surface tension is important in the design of distillation towers, extraction units and tower internals such as bubble caps and trays, since it has a considerable influence on the transfer of mass and energy across interfaces. Surface tension data are needed wherever foaming emulsification, droplet formation or wetting are involved. They are also required in a number of equations for two-phase flow calculations and for determining the flow regime. Petroleum engineers are especially interested in the surface tension in the extraction of crude oil to add surfactants to modify the interfacial properties between crude oil and the geological reservoir to improve production and increase oil yields. In this work, a simple computer program using Arrhenius-type asymptotic exponential function, Vandermoned matrix and Matlab technical computing language, is developed for the estimation of surface tension of paraffin hydrocarbons as a function of molecular weight and temperature. The surface tension is calculated for temperatures in the range of 250 to 440 K and paraffin hydrocarbons molecular weights between 30 and 250. The proposed numerical technique is superior owing to its accuracy and clear numerical background, wherein the relevant coefficients can be retuned quickly if more data become available in the future. Estimations are found to be in excellent agreement with the reliable data in the literature with average absolute deviation being less than 2%
A Femtosecond Neutron Source
The possibility to use the ultrashort ion bunches produced by circularly
polarized laser pulses to drive a source of fusion neutrons with sub-optical
cycle duration is discussed. A two-side irradiation of a thin foil deuterated
target produces two countermoving ion bunches, whose collision leads to an
ultrashort neutron burst. Using particle-in-cell simulations and analytical
modeling, it is evaluated that, for intensities of a few ,
more than neutrons per Joule may be produced within a time shorter than
one femtosecond. Another scheme based on a layered deuterium-tritium target is
outlined.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Explosions of water clusters in intense laser fields
Energetic, highly-charged oxygen ions, (), are copiously
produced upon laser field-induced disassembly of highly-charged water clusters,
and , 60, that are formed by seeding high-pressure
helium or argon with water vapor. clusters (n40000) formed under
similar experimental conditions are found undergo disassembly in the Coulomb
explosion regime, with the energies of ions showing a
dependence. Water clusters, which are argued to be considerably smaller in
size, should also disassemble in the same regime, but the energies of fragment
O ions are found to depend linearly on which, according to
prevailing wisdom, ought to be a signature of hydrodynamic expansion that is
expected of much larger clusters. The implication of these observations on our
understanding of the two cluster explosion regimes, Coulomb explosion and
hydrodynamic expansion, is discussed. Our results indicate that charge state
dependences of ion energy do not constitute an unambiguous experimental
signature of cluster explosion regime.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
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