High-intensity Laser-matter Interactions Research Articles

Phase-matching in high-energy photon sources by relativistic laser–plasma interactions

In this article we briefly review three generation mechanisms of high-energy photons related, directly or otherwise, to high-intensity laser–matter interactions. The three mechanisms are the “Betatron Radiation” (BR), the “Parametric X-ray Radiation” (PXR) from Laser-WakeField Accelerated Electrons (LWFA), and the all-optical “Compton BackScattering” (CBS). The aim is to highlight similarities and differences, in particular regarding the phase-matching conditions for the high-energy photons to be emitted.

Ionization rate and plasma dynamics at 3.9 micron femtosecond photoionization of air.

The introduction of mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers has catalyzed interest in multimillijoule, infrared femtosecond pulse-based filamentation. As tunneling ionization is a fundamental first stage in these high-intensity laser-matter interactions, characterizing the process is critical to understand derivative topical studies on femtosecond filamentation and self-focusing. Here, we report direct nonintrusive measurements of total electron count and electron number densities generated at 3.9 μm femtosecond midinfrared tunneling ionization of atmospheric air using constructive-elastic microwave scattering. Subsequently, we determine photoionization rates to be in the range 5.0×10^{8}-6.1×10^{9}s^{-1} for radiation intensities of 1.3×10^{13}-1.9×10^{14}W/cm^{2}, respectively. The proposed approach paves the wave to precisely tabulate photoionization rates in mid-IR for a broad range of intensities and gas types and to study plasma dynamics at mid-IR filamentation.

Temporal Contrast Enhancement Based on the Self-Diffraction Process with Different Kerr Media

In this study, the self-diffraction (SD) process proved to be a competitive method to achieve a seed pulse with high temporal contrast in ultra-intense lasers. Several different nonlinear, transparent Kerr media including BK7 glasses, AL2O3 and CVD diamonds were compared experimentally to obtain SD signals with high energy and high conversion efficiency. AL2O3, with a high third-order nonlinear coefficient and high laser damage threshold, was found to be the best medium to improve the conversion efficiency of SD signals. The highest first-order SD signal of 401.7 μJ was achieved, with the conversion efficiency at approximately 9.1%, when the incident pulse energy was 4.40 mJ. The temporal contrast of the obtained first-order SD signal was improved by 7 orders of magnitude to 1012. As a result, this cleaning pulse will facilitate research involving ultra-intense laser systems and high-intensity laser–matter interactions.

Calorimeter with Bayesian unfolding of spectra of high-flux broadband x rays.

We report the development of a multipurpose differential x-ray calorimeter with a broad energy bandwidth. The absorber architecture is combined with a Bayesian unfolding algorithm to unfold high energy x-ray spectra generated in high-intensity laser-matter interactions. Particularly, we show how to extract absolute energy spectra and how our unfolding algorithm can reconstruct features not included in the initial guess. The performance of the calorimeter is evaluated via Monte Carlo generated data. The method accuracy to reconstruct electron temperatures from bremsstrahlung is shown to be 5% for electron temperatures from 1 to 50 MeV. We study bremsstrahlung generated in solid target interaction showing an electron temperature of 0.56 ± 0.04 MeV for a 700 μm Ti titanium target and 0.53 ± 0.03 MeV for a 50 μm target. We investigate bremsstrahlung from a target irradiated by laser-wakefield accelerated electrons showing an endpoint energy of 551 ± 5 MeV, inverse Compton generated x rays with a peak energy of 1.1 MeV, and calibrated radioactive sources. The total energy range covered by all these sources ranges from 10 keV to 551 MeV.

Designand commissioning of a neutron counter adapted to high-intensity laser matter interactions.

The advent of multi-PW laser facilities world-wide opens new opportunities for nuclear physics. With this perspective, we developed a neutron counter taking into account the specifics of a high-intensity laser environment. Using GEANT4 simulations and prototype testings, we report on the designof a modular neutron counter based on boron-10 enriched scintillators and a high-density polyethylene moderator. This detector has been calibrated using a plutonium-beryllium neutron source and commissioned during an actual neutron-producing laser experiment at the LULI2000 facility (France). An overall efficiency of 4.37(59)% has been demonstrated during calibration with a recovery time of a few hundred microseconds after laser-plasma interaction.

Towards ML-Based Diagnostics of Laser-Plasma Interactions.

The power of machine learning (ML) in feature identification can be harnessed for determining quantities in experiments that are difficult to measure directly. However, if an ML model is trained on simulated data, rather than experimental results, the differences between the two can pose an obstacle to reliable data extraction. Here we report on the development of ML-based diagnostics for experiments on high-intensity laser–matter interactions. With the intention to accentuate robust, physics-governed features, the presence of which is tolerant to such differences, we test the application of principal component analysis, data augmentation and training with data that has superimposed noise of gradually increasing amplitude. Using synthetic data of simulated experiments, we identify that the approach based on the noise of increasing amplitude yields the most accurate ML models and thus is likely to be useful in similar projects on ML-based diagnostics.

Automation of Target Delivery and Diagnostic Systems for High Repetition Rate Laser-Plasma Acceleration

Fast solid target delivery and plasma-ion detection systems have been designed and developed to be used in high intensity laser-matter interaction experiments. We report on recent progress in the development and testing of automated systems to refresh solid targets at a high repetition rate during high peak power laser operation (>1 Hz), along with ion diagnostics and corresponding data collection and real-time analysis methods implemented for future use in a plasma-based ion acceleration beamline for multidisciplinary user applications.

Optimized Computation of Tight Focusing of Short Pulses Using Mapping to Periodic Space

When a pulsed, few-cycle electromagnetic wave is focused by optics with f-number smaller than two, the frequency components it contains are focused to different regions of space, building up a complex electromagnetic field structure. Accurate numerical computation of this structure is essential for many applications such as the analysis, diagnostics, and control of high-intensity laser-matter interactions. However, straightforward use of finite-difference methods can impose unacceptably high demands on computational resources, owing to the necessity of resolving far-field and near-field zones at sufficiently high resolution to overcome numerical dispersion effects. Here, we present a procedure for fast computation of tight focusing by mapping a spherically curved far-field region to periodic space, where the field can be advanced by a dispersion-free spectral solver. In many cases of interest, the mapping reduces both run time and memory requirements by a factor of order 10, making it possible to carry out simulations on a desktop machine or a single node of a supercomputer. We provide an open-source C++ implementation with Python bindings and demonstrate its use for a desktop machine, where the routine provides the opportunity to use the resolution sufficient for handling the pulses with spectra spanning over several octaves. The described approach can facilitate the stability analysis of theoretical proposals, the studies based on statistical inferences, as well as the overall development and analysis of experiments with tightly-focused short laser pulses.

Targets with cone-shaped microstructures from various materials for enhanced high-intensity laser–matter interaction

Abstract Targets with microstructured front surfaces have shown great potential in improving high-intensity laser–matter interaction. We present cone-shaped microstructures made out of silicon and titanium created by ultrashort laser pulse processing with different characteristics. In addition, we illustrate a process chain based on moulding to recreate the laser-processed samples out of polydimethylsiloxane, polystyrol and copper. With all described methods, samples of large sizes can be manufactured, therefore allowing time-efficient, cost-reduced and reliable ways to fabricate large quantities of identical targets.

Sources and space-time distribution of the electromagnetic pulses in experiments on inertial confinement fusion and laser-plasma acceleration.

When high-energy and high-power lasers interact with matter, a significant part of the incoming laser energy is transformed into transient electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) in the range of radiofrequencies and microwaves. These fields can reach high intensities and can potentially represent a significative danger for the electronic devices placed near the interaction point. Thus, the comprehension of the origin of these electromagnetic fields and of their distribution is of primary importance for the safe operation of high-power and high-energy laser facilities, but also for the possible use of these high fields in several promising applications. A recognized main source of EMPs is the target positive charging caused by the fast-electron emission due to laser-plasma interactions. The fast charging induces high neutralization currents from the conductive walls of the vacuum chamber through the target holder. However, other mechanisms related to the laser-target interaction are also capable of generating intense electromagnetic fields. Several possible sources of EMPs are discussed here and compared for high-energy and high-intensity laser-matter interactions, typical for inertial confinement fusion and laser-plasma acceleration. The possible effects on the electromagnetic field distribution within the experimental chamber, due to particle beams and plasma emitted from the target, are also described. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 2)'.

In situ temporal measurement of ultrashort laser pulses at full power during high-intensity laser–matter interactions

In laser–matter interaction experiments, it is of paramount importance to characterize the laser pulse on target (in situ) and at full power. This allows pulse optimization and meaningful comparison with theory, and it can shed fundamental new light on pulse distortions occurring in or on the target. Here we introduce and demonstrate a new technique based on dispersion-scan using the concurrent third harmonic emission from the target that permits the full (amplitude and phase), in situ, in-parallel characterization of ultrashort laser pulses in a gas or solid target over a very wide intensity range encompassing the 10 13 – 10 15 W c m − 2 regime of high harmonic generation and other important strong-field phenomena, with possible extension to relativistic intensities presently inaccessible to other diagnostics.

Direct observation of ultrafast electrons generated by high-intensity laser-matter interaction

High intensity ultrashort laser pulses interacting with thin solid targets are able to produce energetic protons and ions by means of extremely large accelerating fields, generated by escaping electrons. The characterization of such electrons is thus a key factor for the understanding of the accelerating potential temporal evolution. Here, we present temporally resolved measurements of the ultrafast escaping electron component. The charge, electric field, and temporal duration of the emitted ultrafast electron beams are determined using temporal diagnostics with a 100 fs temporal resolution. Experimental evidence of scaling laws for the ultrafast electron beam parameters with respect to the incident laser pulse energy is retrieved and compared with theoretical models, showing an excellent agreement.

A generalized massively parallel ultra-high order FFT-based Maxwell solver

Dispersion-free ultra-high order FFT-based Maxwell solvers have recently proven to be paramount to a large range of applications, including the high-fidelity modeling of high-intensity laser–matter interactions with Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codes. To enable a massively parallel scaling of these solvers, a novel parallelization technique was recently proposed, which consists in splitting the simulation domain into several processor sub-domains, with guard regions appended at each sub-domain boundary. Maxwell’s equations are advanced independently on each sub-domain using local shared-memory FFTs (instead of a single distributed global FFT). This implies small truncation errors at sub-domain boundaries, the amplitude of which depends on guard regions sizes and order of the Maxwell solver. For moderate guard region sizes, this ’local’ technique proved to be highly scalable on up to a million cores and notably enabled the 3D modelingof so-called plasma mirrors, for which 8 guard cells only were enough to prevent truncation error growth. Yet, for other applications, the required number of guard cells might be much higher, which would severely limit the parallel efficiency of this technique due to the large volume of guard cells to be exchanged between sub-domains. In this context, we propose a novel parallelization technique that ensures very good scaling of FFT-based solvers with an arbitrarily high number of guard cells. Our ’hybrid’ technique consists in performing distributed FFTs on local groups of processors with guard regions now appended to boundaries of each group of processors. It uses a dual domain decomposition method for the Maxwell solver and other parts of the PIC cycle to keep the simulation load-balanced. This ’hybrid’ technique was implemented in the open source exascale library PICSAR. Benchmarks show that for a large number of guard cells (>16), the ’hybrid’ technique offers up to ×3 speed-up and ×8 memory savings compared to the ’local’ one.

Identifying the electron–positron cascade regimes in high-intensity laser-matter interactions

Strong-field quantum electrodynamics predicts electron-seeded electron–positron pair cascades when the electric field in the rest-frame of the seed electron approaches the Sauter–Schwinger field, i.e. . Electrons in the focus of next generation multi-PW lasers are expected to reach this threshold. We identify three distinct cascading regimes in the interaction of counter-propagating, circularly-polarised laser pulses with a thin foil by performing a comprehensive scan over the laser intensity (from 1023 to 5 × 1024 W cm−2) and initial foil target density (from 1026 to 1031 m−3). For low densities and intensities the number of pairs grows exponentially. If the intensity and target density are high enough the number density of created pairs reaches the relativistically-corrected critical density, the pair plasma efficiently absorbs the laser energy (through radiation reaction) and the cascade saturates. If the initial density is too high, such that the initial target is overdense, the cascade is suppressed by the skin effect. We derive a semi-analytical model which predicts that dense pair plasmas are endemic features of these interactions for intensities above 1024 W cm−2 provided the target’s relativistic skin-depth is longer than the laser wavelength. Further, it shows that pair production is maximised in near-critical-density targets, providing a guide for near-term experiments.

Benchmarking semiclassical approaches to strong-field QED: Nonlinear Compton scattering in intense laser pulses

The recoil associated with photon emission is key to the dynamics of ultrarelativistic electrons in strong electromagnetic fields, as found in high-intensity laser-matter interactions and astrophysical environments such as neutron star magnetospheres. When the energy of the photon becomes comparable to that of the electron, it is necessary to use quantum electrodynamics (QED) to describe the dynamics accurately. However, computing the appropriate scattering matrix element from strong-field QED is not generally possible due to multiparticle effects and the complex structure of the electromagnetic fields. Therefore, these interactions are treated semiclassically, coupling probabilistic emission events to classical electrodynamics using rates calculated in the locally constant field approximation. Here, we provide comprehensive benchmarking of this approach against the exact QED calculation for nonlinear Compton scattering of electrons in an intense laser pulse. We find agreement at the percentage level between the photon spectra, as well as between the models' predictions of absorption from the background field, for normalized amplitudes a0 > 5. We discuss possible routes towards improved numerical methods and the implications of our results for the study of QED cascades.

Evolution of the electric fields induced in high intensity laser–matter interactions

Multi MeV protons (Snavely et al., 2000) and heavier ions are emitted by thin foils irradiated by high-intensity lasers, due to the huge accelerating fields, up to several teraelectronvolt per meter, at sub-picosecond timescale (Dubois et al., 2014). The evolution of these huge fields is not well understood till today. Here we report, for the first time, direct and temporally resolved measurements of the electric fields produced by the interaction of a short-pulse high-intensity laser with solid targets. The results, obtained with a sub-100 fs temporal diagnostics, show that such fields build-up in few hundreds of femtoseconds and lasts after several picoseconds.

Ultrafast evolution of electric fields from high-intensity laser-matter interactions

The interaction of high-power ultra-short lasers with materials offers fascinating wealth of transient phenomena which are in the core of novel scientific research. Deciphering its evolution is a complicated task that strongly depends on the details of the early phase of the interaction, which acts as complex initial conditions. The entire process, moreover, is difficult to probe since it develops close to target on the sub-picosecond timescale and ends after some picoseconds. Here we present experimental results related to the fields and charges generated by the interaction of an ultra-short high-intensity laser with metallic targets. The temporal evolution of the interaction is probed with a novel femtosecond resolution diagnostics that enables the differentiation of the contribution by the high-energy forerunner electrons and the radiated electromagnetic pulses generated by the currents of the remaining charges on the target surface. Our results provide a snapshot of huge pulses, up to 0.6 teravolt per meter, emitted with multi-megaelectronvolt electron bunches with sub-picosecond duration and are able to explore the processes involved in laser-matter interactions at the femtosecond timescale.

High Average Power, Scalable, All Diode-Pumped Solid State Petawatt Laser System HAPLS: A Robust Driver for High Intensity Laser Matter Interactions Enabling Precision Science and Commercial Applications

High Average Power, Scalable, All Diode-Pumped Solid State Petawatt Laser System HAPLS: A Robust Driver for High Intensity Laser Matter Interactions Enabling Precision Science and Commercial Applications

Strong electromagnetic pulses generated in high-intensity laser-matter interactions

Results are reported of an experiment performed at the Eclipse laser facility in CELIA, Bordeaux, on the generation of strong electromagnetic pulses. Measurements were performed of the target neutralization current, the total target charge and the tangential component of the magnetic field for the laser energies ranging from 45 mJ to 92 mJ with the pulse duration approximately 40 fs, and for the pulse durations ranging from 39 fs to 1000 fs, with the laser energy approximately 90 mJ. It was found that the values obtained for thick (mm scale) Cu targets are visibly higher than values reported in previous experiments, which is argued to be a manifestation of a strong dependence of the target electric polarization process on the laser contrast and hence on the amount of preplasma. It was also found that values obtained for thin (μm scale) Al foils were visibly higher than values for thick Cu targets, especially for pulse durations longer than 100 fs. The correlations between the total target charge versus the maximum value of the target neutralization current, and the maximum value of the tangential component of the magnetic field versus the total target charge were analysed. They were found to be in very good agreement with correlations seen in data from previous experiments, which provides a good consistency check on our experimental procedures.

In situ ptychographic measurements of high-order harmonic sources from plasma mirrors: A theoretical and numerical study

Measuring the spatial properties of high-order harmonic beams produced by high-intensity laser-matter interactions directly in the target plane is very challenging due to the extreme physical conditions at stake in the interaction area. A measurement scheme has been recently developed to obtain this information experimentally, which consists in adapting a lensless imaging method known as ptychography. In this paper, we present a theoretical validation of this method in the case of harmonic generation from plasma mirrors, using a combination of simple modeling and 2D Particle-In-Cell simulations. This study investigates the concept of in situ ptychography and supports the analysis of experimental measurements presented in previous publications.