Collisionless Shock Acceleration of protons in a plasma slab produced in a gas jet by the collision of two laser-driven hydrodynamic shockwaves

We recently proposed a new technique of plasma tailoring by laser-driven hydrodynamic shockwaves generated on both sides of a gas jet [J.-R. Marqu\`es et al., Phys. Plasmas 28, 023103 (2021)]. In the continuation of this numerical work, we studied experimentally the influence of the tailoring on proton acceleration driven by a high-intensity picosecond-laser, in three cases: without tailoring, by tailoring only the entrance side of the ps-laser, or both sides of the gas jet. Without tailoring the acceleration is transverse to the laser axis, with a low-energy exponential spectrum, produced by Coulomb explosion. When the front side of the gas jet is tailored, a forward acceleration appears, that is significantly enhanced when both the front and back sides of the plasma are tailored. This forward acceleration produces higher energy protons, with a peaked spectrum, and is in good agreement with the mechanism of Collisionless Shock Acceleration (CSA). The spatio-temporal evolution of the plasma profile was characterized by optical shadowgraphy of a probe beam. The refraction and absorption of this beam was simulated by post-processing 3D hydrodynamic simulations of the plasma tailoring. Comparison with the experimental results allowed to estimate the thickness and near-critical density of the plasma slab produced by tailoring both sides of the gas jet. These parameters are in good agreement with those required for CSA

Irradiation of benzene molecules by ion-induced and light-induced intense fields

Benzene, with its sea of delocalized $\pi$-electrons in the valence orbitals, is identified as an example of a class of molecules that enable establishment of the correspondence between intense ion-induced and laser-light-induced fields in experiments that probe ionization dynamics in temporal regimes spanning the attosecond and picosecond ranges.Comment: 4 ps figure

Ion slowing down and charge exchange at small impact parameters selected by channeling: superdensity effects

CASInternational audienceIn two experiments performed with 20-30 MeV/u highly charged heavy ions (Pb56+, U91+) channeled through thin silicon crystals, we observed the original features of superdensity, associated to the glancing collisions with atomic rows undergone by part of the incident projectiles. In particular the very high collision rate yields a quite specific charge exchange regime, that leads to a higher ionization probability than in random conditions. X-ray measurements show that electrons captured in outershells are prevented from being stabilized, which enhances the lifetime of the projectile innershell vacancies. The charge state distributions and the energy loss spectra are compared to Monte-Carlo simulations. These simulations confirm, extend and illustrate the qualitative analysis of the experimental results

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