Abstract
The interaction of powerful sub-picosecond timescale lasers with neutral gas and plasmas has stimulated enormous interest because of the potential to accelerate particles to extremely large energies by the intense wakefields formed and without being limited by high accelerating gradients as in conventional accelerator cells. The interaction of extremely high-power electromagnetic waves with plasmas is though, of general interest and also to plasma heating and wake-field formation. The study of this subject has become more accessible with the availability of sub-nanosecond timescale GigaWatt (GW) power scale microwave sources. The interaction of such high-power microwaves (HPM) with under-dense plasmas is a scale down of the picosecond laser—dense plasma interaction situation. We present a review of a unique experiment in which such interactions are being studied, some of our results so far including results of our numerical modeling. Such experiments have not been performed before, self-channeling of HPM through gas and plasma and extremely fast plasma electron heating to keV energies have already been observed, wakefields resulting from the transition of HPM through plasma are next and more is expected to be revealed.
Highlights
When a high energy density laser, producing high intensity (>1016 W/cm2 ) ultra-short pulses (~30 fs), is directed into a high density plasma (~1018 cm−3 ), the extremely high laser electric fields act as a ponderomotive force generating a charge separation in the plasma, a wake
We shall review the results of experiments, analytical modeling and numerical studies we have performed so far to study the interaction of high-power microwaves (HPM) with plasmas and neutral gases using the HPM beams produced by the SR-BWO systems we have developed and our predictions for our future experiments
We have developed a 1D model of the interaction of a sub-nanosecond high-power (~1 GW), 10 GHz TM mode pulse propagating in the interaction of a sub-nanosecond high-power (~1 GW), 10 GHz TM01 01 mode pulse propagating in a a cylindrical waveguide filled with under-dense plasma [57]
Summary
When a high energy density laser, producing high intensity (>1016 W/cm2 ) ultra-short pulses (~30 fs), is directed into a high density plasma (~1018 cm−3 ), the extremely high laser electric fields act as a ponderomotive force generating a charge separation in the plasma, a wake. Other experimental studies of plasma wakefield generation, ponderomotive force effects, and self-focusing of microwaves (with frequencies in the range of 3–10 GHz) in plasma were carried out [16,17,18] All these experiments were characterized by a relatively low power microwave sources (10–250 kW) with much longer pulses (60 ns–1 μs) than the periods of the plasma electron and ion oscillation. A background electron density may be the result of cosmic radiation or can be generated by electric sparks or lasers as is the case in high-power microwave compressors In such compressors a resonant gas filled cavity is charged during a long period of time (microseconds) by microwave energy which is released by a fast plasma interference switch, the result of a local ns time scale gas discharge plasma. We shall review the results of experiments, analytical modeling and numerical studies we have performed so far to study the interaction of HPMs with plasmas and neutral gases using the HPM beams produced by the SR-BWO systems we have developed and our predictions for our future experiments
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