Laser Pulse In Plasma Research Articles

High-Resolution Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Stannane: Deconvolution of Superimposed Fragmentation Patterns.

In a pulsed laser plasma driven extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, tin droplets undergo evaporation, eventually depositing on different surfaces. The removal of surface bound tin is commonly achieved with a hydrogen plasma, resulting in the formation of stannane (SnH4). The mechanisms leading to the formation and decomposition of stannane remain incompletely understood. To analyze these mechanisms mass spectrometrically, a reference is crucial, necessitating a high-resolution and thoroughly characterized mass spectrum of stannane. In this paper, a high-resolution 70 eV electron ionization (EI) mass spectrum of stannane is presented. The mass spectrum comprises all ten natural isotopes of the stannane fragments generated through EI. Utilizing the custom analysis program RASP, the relative distribution of fragments is calculated from the isotopically superimposed mass signals, offering crucial insights into the occurring processes. Furthermore, the dependence of fragment formation on ion source pressure and temperature was determined.

THz generation and spatiotemporal variation of two cross‐focused Gaussian laser pulses in plasma

AbstractThe impact of spatial and temporal evolution of nonlinear mixing of two Gaussian laser pulses propagating in plasma on generation of terahertz (THz) radiation have been investigated taking into account the ponderomotive nonlinearity. By calculating the modified electron density of plasma caused by the finite ponderomotive force of the pump lasers and using wave equation and paraxial ray approximation, two coupled governing equations for temporal and spatial pulse‐width parameters have been derived. The electric field of the THz wave as a result of nonlinear current density induced by the beat ponderomotive force of the pulses was extracted. Combined effects of initial laser and plasma parameters on the behavior of self‐compression and self‐focusing as well as THz radiation generation were investigated. The numerical results indicated a considerable spatiotemporal compression takes place within a specific range of laser intensity, exhibiting a saturation intensity point where the compression process reaches its maximum extent. It is observed that the generated THz radiation also strongly depends on the spatiotemporal dynamics of the pump pulses. The maximum THz amplitude corresponds to the strongest pump pulse compression extent.

The Use of Spatially Multi-Component Plasma Structures and Combined Energy Deposition for High-Speed Flow Control: A Selective Review

This review examines studies aimed at the organization of energy (non-mechanical) control of high-speed flow/flight using spatially multi-component plasma structures and combined energy deposition. The review covers selected works on the experimental acquisition and numerical modeling of multi-component plasma structures and the use of sets of actuators based on plasma of such a spatial type for the purposes of control of shock wave/bow shock wave–energy source interaction, as well as control of shock wave–boundary layer interaction. A series of works on repetitive multiple laser pulse plasma structures is also analyzed from the point of view of examining shock wave/bow shock wave–boundary layer interaction. Self-sustained theoretical models for laser dual-pulse, multi-mode laser pulses, and self-sustained glow discharge are also considered. Separate sections are devoted to high-speed flow control using combined physical phenomena and numerical prediction of flow control possibilities using thermal longitudinally layered plasma structures. The wide possibilities for organization and applying spatially multi-component structured plasma for the purposes of high-speed flow control are demonstrated.

Characterization of a UV-USP Laser Grooving Process Combined with Plasma Dicing to Support Next Generation Advanced Packaging Trends

In this study, we investigated and characterized the combined process flow of the UV-USP (ultra-short pulse) laser grooving and plasma dicing wafer singulation technologies and discussed the impact on subsequent hybrid bonding steps. We benchmarked UV-USP laser grooving against UV-nanosecond laser grooving to enable plasma dicing by evaluation of imaging and die strength measurements. The results showed the advantages of the UV-USP laser grooving combined with plasma dicing for the current and future semiconductor production flows.

Laser-Driven Electron Acceleration by q-Gaussian Laser Pulse in Plasma: Effect of Self-Focusing

Laser-Driven Electron Acceleration by q-Gaussian Laser Pulse in Plasma: Effect of Self-Focusing

Six-photon resonant scattering of collinear laser pulses in plasma.

To achieve the highest possible laser intensities with the least laser energy, shorter-wavelengths lasers are advantaged if they can be focused to spots of a few laser wavelengths and durations of several laser periods. However, the top laser pulse energies available nowadays are megajoules at near-optical wavelengths and millijoules at shorter wavelengths. Thus, to produce the highest laser intensities, what is required is an efficient spectral transfer of the huge near-optical energies to shorter wavelengths. It is proposed here that the desired spectral transfer could occur via resonant photon interactions associated with nonlinearity of mildly relativistic motions of plasma electrons in intense laser fields, specifically via the six-photon resonant scattering of collinear laser pulses in plasma. The six-photon interaction can, in fact, be the dominant resonant photon interaction to achieve collinear frequency up-conversion.

Electron acceleration by wakefield generated by the propagation of chirped laser pulse in plasma

A study of generation of wakefield and particle acceleration via propagation of linearly polarised, chirped, Gaussian laser pulse in preformed plasma channel is presented. Perturbation technique is used to separate slow and fast varying plasma electron velocities and density. Considering the laser pulse length and amplitude to be evolving along the propagation distance, nonlinear fluid equations are used to derive longitudinal electric wakefields at varying propagation distances for chirped as well as unchirped pulses. It has been seen that longitudinal wakefield amplitude generated by positively (negatively) chirped laser pulses is higher (lower) than the amplitude obtained by unchirped laser pulses. The wakefield amplitudes are optimized with respect to the propagation distance. Further, trapping and acceleration of electrons by the generated wakes, is analysed. Comparing the energy of an accelerated test electron using chirped and unchirped laser pulses, it is shown that positively chirped laser pulses are capable of accelerating test electron to maximum energy using minimum injection energy. Hence, highest energy gain can be obtained by propagation of positively chirped laser pulse in plasma.

Mechanism of paint removal by nanosecond pulsed laser plasma shock: simulation and experiment.

This paper establishes a new theoretical paint removal model of plasma shock based on Fabbro's model and Newton's second law. A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is established to calculate the theoretical model. By comparing the theoretical and experimental results, it is found that the theoretical model can accurately predict the threshold of laser paint removal. It is indicated that plasma shock is an essential mechanism in laser paint removal. The threshold for laser paint removal is approximately 1.73J/c m 2. The experiments show that, with the increase of the laser fluence, the effect of laser paint removal first increases and then decreases. With the increase of the laser fluence, the paint removal effect is improved due to the increase of the paint removal mechanism. The competition between the plastic fracture and pyrolysis leads to a reduction in paint effectiveness. In summary, this study can provide a theoretical reference for studying the paint removal mechanism of plasma shock.

Generation of intense magnetic wakes by relativistic laser pulses in plasma

The emergence of petawatt lasers focused to relativistic intensities enables all-optical laboratory generation of intense magnetic fields in plasmas, which are of great interest due to their ubiquity in astrophysical phenomena. In this work, we study generation of spatially extended and long-lived intense magnetic fields. We show that such magnetic fields, scaling up to the gigagauss range, can be generated by interaction of petawatt laser pulses with relativistically underdense plasma. With three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations we investigate generation of magnetic fields with strengths up to 10^{10} G and perform a large multi-parametric study of magnetic field in dependence on dimensionless laser amplitude a_{0} and normalized plasma density n_{e}/n_{c}. The numerical results yield scaling laws that closely follow derived analytical result B propto sqrt{a_{0}n_{e}/n_{c}}, and further show a close match with previous experimental works. Furthermore, we show in three-dimensional geometry that the decay of the magnetic wake is governed by current filament bending instability, which develops similarly to von Kármán vortex street in its nonlinear stage.

Efficient combination and enhancement of high-power mid-infrared pulses in plasmas

High-power intense optical sources in the mid-to-long wavelength infrared region are very attractive for a wide range of fields from fundamental research to materials science and biology applications. However, there are still significant challenges in extending long-wavelength infrared pulses into the relativistic regime using conventional optical techniques. Here, based upon a new type of plasma-based optical method, we present an efficient scheme capable of combining several high-power long-wavelength infrared laser pulses into one single, more intense pulse, thus bringing the intensity of the output pulse to the relativistic regime. Such intense infrared pulses will open up new possibilities for strong-field physics and ultrafast applications. Furthermore, this is beneficial to understand the underlying physics and nonlinear processes of modulation, propagation and energy transfer of high-power intense laser pulses in plasmas.

Comparative study of ultrashort single-pulse and multi-pulse driven laser wakefield acceleration

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is a promising technique to build compact and powerful particle accelerators. In such accelerators, the electric fields required to accelerate charged particles are sustained by electron density modulations in the plasma. The plasma wave modulating the electron density may be excited by an intense laser pulse. However, propagation of intense laser pulse in plasma is subject to various instabilities which result in significant losses of laser energy, reducing the efficiency of wakefield generation. Using a train of lower intensity pulses instead of a single higher intensity pulse appears to be a more efficient scheme for LWFA. Here we have studied this alternative scheme by applying an ultra-short femtosecond Gaussian laser beam consisting pulse train of a various number of pulses in different cases to underdense plasma. The plasma density modulation and strength of the resulting wakefield have been compared in various cases of multi-pulse and single-pulse lasers, for the same amount of input energies. Here we demonstrate that applying multi-laser pulses of optimally selected lower intensities and proper spacing leads to stronger wakefield generation and more efficient electron acceleration compared to the case of a single pulse of higher energy.

Propagation of intense laser pulses in plasma with a prepared phase-space distribution

Optimizing the laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) requires control of the intense driving laser pulse and its stable propagation. This is usually challenging because of mode mismatching arising from relativistic self-focusing, which invariably alters the velocity and shape of the laser pulse. Here we show how an intense pre-pulse can prepare the momentum/density phase-space distribution of plasma electrons encountered by a trailing laser pulse to control its propagation. This can also be used to minimize the evolution of the wakefield thus enhancing the stability of the LWFA, which is important for applications.

Propagation of axiparabola-focused laser pulses in uniform plasmas

An axiparabola-based flying focus laser possesses a long focal depth, a small focal spot, and a controllable group velocity. It has been proposed for wide applications, such as phase-locked laser wakefield acceleration and photon acceleration. We numerically study the propagation of axiparabola-focused laser pulses in plasmas and find that such lasers can propagate stably over long distances in plasmas at low intensity. When the laser intensity increases to the relativistic intensity, they no longer propagate stably. Pulse front deformation and fracture appear due to the formation of plasma density modulations. We propose three schemes to mitigate the unstable propagation of axiparabola-focused lasers: (i) adding a radially dependent pulse front delay, (ii) placing the plasma away from the beginning of the focal line, and (iii) using an axiparabola mirror with a negative focal line. All these methods are relatively easy to implement. Our studies can provide guidance for applications of axiparabola-focused lasers.

Preparing High-Quality Cross-Section Surfaces by Ultrashort Pulse Laser Ablation and Plasma FIB

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Self-compression of elliptical q-Gaussian laser pulse in plasmas with axial density ramp

Self-compression of elliptical q-Gaussian laser pulse in plasmas with axial density ramp

Super-resonant four-photon collinear laser frequency multiplication in plasma.

Resonant four-photon scattering could nearly double frequencies of intense laser pulses in plasma. However, transverse slippage between pulses presents a technological challenge, while collinear four-photon scattering is forbidden for classical light dispersion in plasma. Nonlinear renormalization of intense laser pulses can enable collinear four-photon resonance. However, such a very intensity-sensitive resonance is difficult to maintain for evolving pulses. Remarkably, there is a lower-dimensionality submanifold of the resonant four-photon manifold where the evolving pulses stay in resonance. This could enable an all-optical frequency doubling of mildly relativistic-intense laser pulses in collinear geometry, advantageously free of the transverse slippage challenges.

Study of Mixing Enhancement in Helium Jet/Shock Interaction by Laser Pulses

The mechanism of low-density jet mixing enhancement by a pulsed laser plasma is investigated through a combined numerical and experimental method. A helium jet is injected in parallel to a Mach 2.4 supersonic airstream, and interacts with an oblique shock generated by a compression ramp of 20 deg. The helium jet Mach numbers are set to be 1.01 and 1.80 for the sonic and supersonic fuel jets in the scramjet combustor, respectively. For jet mixing enhancement control, the laser pulses at frequencies ranging from 5 to 25 kHz are introduced inside the jet. The experimental results show that laser pulses significantly improve the jet mixing with jet width increased by 30% seen from the averaged schlieren images. Three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved, and the numerical results further reveal that the jet mixing enhancement is strongly associated with large-scale vortex rings stimulated by the laser pulses interacting with shock waves. These large-scale vortices prompt the jet cross-sectional area and mixing efficiency two times larger. However, the total pressure recovery coefficient is reduced by 0.16% downstream. Meanwhile, the turbulent kinetic energy of jet flow is significantly increased and favorable for the jet mixing.

Magnetic field-assisted wakefield generation and electron acceleration by Gaussian and super-Gaussian laser pulses in plasma

This study focuses on electron acceleration and wakefield produced by Gaussian and Super-Gaussian (SG) laser pulses through plasma medium in the attendance of an external magnetic field. Two shapes of different laser spatial profiles Gaussian and SG are considered. Besides, governing equations for analysis of laser wakefield and electron acceleration by using of hydrodynamics fluid equations, Maxwell’s equations and perturbation technique for Gaussian and SG laser pulses in weakly nonlinear regime have been derived. In addition, influence of the external magnetic field strengths, laser intensity, the pulselength, the plasma electron density and the laser frequency on the wakefield and the electron energy gain have been investigated. Numerical results indicate that by increasing of external magnetic field, the amplitude of wakefield increases. Moreover, it is observed that wakefield amplitude excited by SG laser pulse in comparison with Gaussian laser pulse is larger when external magnetic field is increased. Furthermore, it is found that wakefield amplitude and shape of wakefield generation in within homogeneous plasma greatly are related to the laser profile type, selected laser parameters and external magnetic field. In addition, it is seen that influence of external magnetic field, while laser intensity enhances, on the electron energy gain in SG and Gaussian laser pulses is insignificant.

Boosting the performance of Brillouin amplification at sub-quarter-critical densities via reduction of parasitic Raman scattering

Brillouin amplification of laser pulses in plasma has been shown to be a promising approach to produce picosecond pulses of petawatt power. A key challenge is preservation of the quality of the amplified pulse, which requires control of parasitic instabilities that accompany the amplification process. At high plasma densities (/4), ponderomotive filamentation has been identified as the biggest threat to the integrity of the amplifying pulse. It has therefore been proposed to perform Brillouin scattering at densities below to reduce the influence of filamentation. However, parasitic Raman scattering can become a problem at such densities, contrary to densities above where it is forbidden. In this paper, we investigate the influence of parasitic Raman scattering on Brillouin amplification at densities below . We expose the specific problems posed by both Raman backward and forward scattering, and how both types of scattering can be mitigated, leading to an increased performance of the Brillouin amplification process.

Experimental Study on Interaction between Nanosecond Pulsed Laser and Normal Shock Wave

Nanosecond pulsed lasers possess two remarkable advantages: a high peak power density and the ability to break down air to form plasma readily. Therefore, they have significant practical value in the drag reduction of a supersonic body. An experimental investigation is conducted on the fundamental physical phenomenon of the interaction of the pulsed laser plasma with a normal shock wave to reveal the mechanism of drag reduction. Moreover, a high-precision schlieren system is developed to measure complex wave structures with a time resolution of up to 30 ns and a spatial resolution up to 1 mm. A high-speed particle image velocimetry system is set up to measure the velocity and vorticity of the flow field quantitatively; the system has a time resolution of up to 500 ns. The characteristics of the spherical shock wave and the high-temperature and low-density region induced by the laser plasma are presented. The flow characteristics and evolution process of the laser plasma under a normal shock wave are substantially revealed. The cause of the supersonic drag reduction by the pulsed laser plasma is illustrated with numerical simulation results. The following results are obtained in this study: the initial Mach number of the shock wave induced by the laser plasma increases with the laser energy, and the shape of the wave gradually evolves from a droplet shape to a spherical shape. The propagation velocity decreases with time and is close to the sound velocity after 50 μs. The shape of the initial high-temperature and low-density region is approximately spherical; it subsequently destabilizes to form a sharp spike structure in the laser’s incident direction. Ultimately, the region evolves into a double-vortex ring structure with upper and lower symmetry; the size of this region increases with the laser energy.