Phase Velocity Of Plasma Wave Research Articles

Effects of spin polarization on the propagation of surface waves on a quantum plasma half-space

The study explores the wave propagation characteristics of surface plasma waves in a semi-bounded plasma, incorporating the influence of spin polarization arising from spin mismatch. The formulated plasma model integrates the density correlation effect via Bohm's potential force, Fermi pressure employing Fermi-Dirac statistics, and the exchange potential. These factors are considered in spin-polarized form and interconnected through the spin polarization index κ. We derive a dispersion relation for surface plasma waves, delineating the propagation features of the configured wave mode. Our findings indicate that an increase in spin polarization among electron populations results in a decrease in the phase velocity of surface plasma waves compared to the usual electron-ion quantum plasma. Moreover, an increase in the exchange potential contributes to a decrease in the phase speed. However, the ratio of plasmon to Fermi energy leads to an increase in the phase velocity of surface plasma waves in a spin-polarized quantum plasma. We provide a comparative analysis of our work with an earlier model based on the gold–air interface, revealing that our model facilitates the propagation of surface plasma waves with higher frequencies across the wave vector. This study highlights the significance of quantum effects for electrostatic surface plasma waves in dense metallic plasmas at room temperature, with implications for signal transmission in metallic waveguides observed in a recent study [Guo et al., “Excitation of graphene magneto-plasmons in terahertz range and giant Kerr rotation,” J. Appl. Phys. 125(1), 013102 (2019)] and some of the references therein.

Filamentation and focusing of electron beams due to interactions with plasma waves.

Results of numerical modeling of the interaction of an electron beam propagating across relativistic plasma waves indicate that electron beam filamentation and focusing may occur under certain conditions. The model is based on solving the relativistic equation of motion in three dimensions for the individual electrons in a tenuous Gaussian beam, as they pass through a relativistic plasma wave. Several electron beam and plasma wave parameters were varied, and the results are summarized. One of the results is that the spacing of the electron beam filaments correlates with the wavelength of the plasma wave. The electron beam filaments appear as vertical slabs after the beam exits the plasma waves. The electron beam also compresses to a focus after it exits the plasma, and the focal distance depends on several parameters including the electron beam energy and phase velocity of the relativistic plasma wave. It is suggested that these focusing and filamentation phenomena may be the basis for diagnostics schemes for laser plasma interactions. The parameters used in the model were electron beam energies in the 5-50 keV range and plasma wave properties typical for the beat-wave produced by CO2 lasers, which correspond to the facilities available in our laboratory. The limitations of these results to lower energy density beam and plasma regimes and to higher energy density regimes will be discussed.

Effects of continuous phase plate on plasma corona homogeneity and laser-plasma instabilities in experiments with three target materials

Corona homogeneity and spectra of scattered light and hot electrons produced by laser-plasma instabilities inside laser-produced plastic, aluminum, and gold plasmas were investigated with and without the use of continuous phase plate (CPP) to the laser beam. Improvement of the corona homogeneity was observed for all three materials after applying CPP, while the inhibition of the intensity of backward-scattered light and the amount of emitted hot electrons was not always synchronous for different materials, which is interpreted as a result of the changes in thresholds of the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and the two-plasmon decay (TPD) instability before and after the application of CPP. By comparing the changes of SRS scattered light intensity with the amount of hot electrons in different kinetic energy ranges for all three target materials in our experiments, we conclude that SRS is more responsible for the diagnosed hot electrons between 50–150 keV, and those above 150 keV should be generated by TPD, which could be explained by the difference in phase velocity of electron plasma waves between SRS and TPD calculated from measured and simulated parameters of corona and laser-plasma instabilities.

Sub-femtosecond electron bunches in laser wakefield acceleration via injection suppression with a magnetic field

It is shown that electron injection into a laser-driven plasma bubble can be manipulated by applying an external magnetic field in the presence of a plasma density gradient. The down-ramp of the density-tailored plasma locally reduces the plasma wave phase velocity, which triggers injection. The longitudinal magnetic field dynamically induces an expanding hole in the electron density distribution at the rear of the wake bubble, which reduces the peak electron velocity in its vicinity. Electron injection is suppressed when the electron velocity drops below the phase velocity, which depends on the size of the density hole. This enables the start and end of electron injection to be independently controlled, which allows generation of sub-femtosecond electron bunches with peak currents of a few kilo-Ampere, for an applied magnetic field of ∼10 Tesla.

Acceleration of electrons in the interaction of a subterawatt laser pulse with a nonuniform plasma

We consider the effect of nonlinear self-focusing and self-modulation processes on the acceleration of electrons in the interaction of a subterawatt femtosecond laser pulse with a gas jet plasma. A three-dimensional particle-in-cell (3D PIC) simulation of the interaction of laser radiation with a low-density nonuniform plasma shows that laser pulse self-focusing that arises when the critical power of relativistic self-focusing determined by the local concentration of plasma electrons exceeds the pulse power results in efficient generation of a plasma wave. Due to a decrease in the phase velocity of the wake plasma wave generated via self-modulation of the laser pulse, electrons are trapped into the accelerating phase of the plasma wave and are accelerated to energies of ∼10 MeV. It is demonstrated that under the conditions for limiting the electrons’ acceleration region by the length of their dephasing, quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches with a characteristic energy of ∼9 MeV can be produced. The effective temperature of the accelerated electrons and their angular distribution, obtained by 3D PIC simulation, are in good agreement with those determined in the experiment.

Stimulated Raman scattering instability of a left-handed circularly polarized laser in strongly axially magnetized plasmas

The stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) instability of a left-handed circularly polarized (LH-CP) laser in strongly axially magnetized plasmas is investigated in detail with the help of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Since the LH-CP laser has a larger critical density in the axially magnetized plasmas, the SRS instability could be excited in over quarter-critical density plasmas, which is verified by the PIC simulations. This phenomenon could be used to amplify a seed with a frequency smaller than half of the laser frequency, which is impossible for traditional simulated Raman amplification. The simulation results also show that the scattered laser becomes right-handed circularly polarized. With this conclusion, we re-derive the temporal linear growth rate of the SRS instability of the LH-CP laser in the axially magnetized plasmas. The results show that the larger the external magnetic field is the smaller the temporal growth rate is. The suppression of the SRS by the external axial magnetic field in the linear region is verified by both 1D and 2D PIC simulations. The simulation results also show that the phase velocity of the electron plasma wave (EPW) will be decreased by the external magnetic field as expected by the theory, which makes it easier for the EPW to trap electrons and for the nonlinear frequency shift of the EPW to happen. As a result, not only the linear growth rate of SRS but also the saturation level of SRS is decreased by the external axial magnetic field. When the external magnetic field is strong enough, the saturation level of SRS can be suppressed by several times. So, this work also provides an efficient way of suppressing the SRS instability. Besides, the 2D simulation results show that some transverse instabilities of the electron plasma wave are also suppressed by the external magnetic field and this suppression will provide us with an electron plasma wave with a better structure, which may benefit the simulated Raman amplification.

An analytic approach for density gradient injection in laser wake field acceleration

In laser wake field acceleration, it is relatively easy to achieve and control electron injection by adopting a plasma density gradient. This scheme of plasma density gradient injection has been studied in recent years both theoretically and experimentally, but thus far theoretical studies have been done mostly by particle-in-cell simulations. In this paper the density gradient injection and acceleration of electrons are studied with a newly developed analytic approach. The energy threshold for electron injection versus plasma density gradient scale length is given. It is shown that in the plasma density gradient region, the energy threshold of electron injection becomes lower at later times after the driving laser pusle or when the gradient becomes sharper. Evolution of plasma wave's phase velocity and motion of the background electrons in the plasma density gradient are worked out in the linear plasma wave regime, i.e. the normalized laser intensity is a0～1. The energy, the location, and the timing of the injected electrons are obtained. Separatrices of test electrons in the gradient region are obtained by Hamiltonian theory. The influence of injection timing in the density gradient region on the succeeding acceleration in the homogeneous plasma density region is also discussed. It is indicated that whether the injected electrons may be accelerated efficiently or not in the homogeneous region depends on both the energy of the electrons and the phase of the plasma wave at the gradient-to-homogeneous turning point. The analytic results are confirmed by particle-in-cell simulations.

Instability of Interaction of a Coherent Electron Beam and Plasma

Nonlinear interaction of a beam with finite density of electrons, whose velocity is greater than the phase velocity of a plasma wave, with homogeneous collisionless plasma is described. It is shown that a positive feedback arises between plasma oscillations and the wave of longitudinal electron density of the beam if the phase of this wave is 90° ahead of the phase of plasma oscillations. An increase in the energies of plasma and beam oscillations is accompanied by a decrease in the kinetic beam energy until the moment when the beam velocity becomes equal to the plasma wave phase velocity. Since the beam velocity can be greater than the plasma wave phase velocity, such energy conversion is very efficient.

Stimulated compton scattering of surface plasma wave excited over metallic surface by a laser

AbstractA high-frequency surface plasma wave (SPW) excited over metallic surface irradiated by a laser beam, can undergo stimulated Compton scattering if phase velocity of daughter plasma wave is equal to the Fermi velocity for metal. The pump SPW${\rm (}{{\rm \omega} _0},{\vec k_{0{\rm z}}})$parametrically excites a quasi-electrostatic plasma wave${\rm (\omega}, {\vec k_{\rm z}})$and a backscattered sideband SPW${\rm (}{{\rm \omega} _1},{\vec k_{1{\rm z}}})$at resonance ω0= ω − ω1and${\vec k_{0{\rm z}}} = {\vec k_{\rm z}} - {\vec k_{1{\rm z}}}$. The growth rate of Compton process increases with the frequency of incident laser and turns out to be 5.425 × 1010rad/s at laser frequency ω0= 0.7595 × 1015rad/s for incident laser amplitudeA0L= 11 × 1011V/m, laser spot size b = 1.38 × 10−5m, and free electron density of metaln0= 5.85 × 1028/m3. The excitation of highly damped quasi-electrostatic plasma wave in this parametric process provide a better nonlinear option for surface heating as compared with direct laser heating. The process can also be used for diagnostics purposes.

Electron trapping and acceleration by the plasma wakefield of a self-modulating proton beam

It is shown that co-linear injection of electrons or positrons into the wakefield of the self-modulating particle beam is possible and ensures high energy gain. The witness beam must co-propagate with the tail part of the driver, since the plasma wave phase velocity there can exceed the light velocity, which is necessary for efficient acceleration. If the witness beam is many wakefield periods long, then the trapped charge is limited by beam loading effects. The initial trapping is better for positrons, but at the acceleration stage a considerable fraction of positrons is lost from the wave. For efficient trapping of electrons, the plasma boundary must be sharp, with the density transition region shorter than several centimeters. Positrons are not susceptible to the initial plasma density gradient.

Growth and Phase Velocity of Self-Modulated Beam-Driven Plasma Waves

A long, relativistic particle beam propagating in an overdense plasma is subject to the self-modulation instability. This instability is analyzed and the growth rate is calculated, including the phase relation. The phase velocity of the wake is shown to be significantly less than the beam velocity. These results indicate that the energy gain of a plasma accelerator driven by a self-modulated beam will be severely limited by dephasing. In the long-beam, strongly coupled regime, dephasing is reached in a homogeneous plasma in less than four e foldings, independent of beam-plasma parameters.

Nonlinear Pulse Propagation and Phase Velocity of Laser-Driven Plasma Waves

Laser evolution and plasma wave excitation by a relativistically intense short-pulse laser in underdense plasma are investigated in the broad pulse limit, including the effects of pulse steepening, frequency redshifting, and energy depletion. The nonlinear plasma wave phase velocity is shown to be significantly lower than the laser group velocity and further decreases as the pulse propagates owing to laser evolution. This lowers the thresholds for trapping and wave breaking and reduces the energy gain and efficiency of laser-plasma accelerators that use a uniform plasma profile.

Thomson-scattering measurements in the collective and noncollective regimes in laser produced plasmas (invited)

We present simultaneous Thomson-scattering measurements of light scattered from ion-acoustic and electron-plasma fluctuations in a N(2) gas jet plasma. By varying the plasma density from 1.5×10(18) to 4.0×10(19) cm(-3) and the temperature from 100 to 600 eV, we observe the transition from the collective regime to the noncollective regime in the high-frequency Thomson-scattering spectrum. These measurements allow an accurate local measurement of fundamental plasma parameters: electron temperature, density, and ion temperature. Furthermore, experiments performed in the high densities typically found in laser produced plasmas result in scattering from electrons moving near the phase velocity of the relativistic plasma waves. Therefore, it is shown that even at low temperatures relativistic corrections to the scattered power must be included.

Reply to comment by R. Dhanya and S. Gurubaran on “Initial results from SKiYMET meteor radar at Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E): 1. Comparison of wind measurements with MF spaced antenna radar system”

Reply to comment by R. Dhanya and S. Gurubaran on “Initial results from SKiYMET meteor radar at Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E): 1. Comparison of wind measurements with MF spaced antenna radar system”

Radiation from high-intensity ultrashort-laser-pulse and gas-jet magnetized plasma interaction.

Using a gas-jet flow, via the interaction between an ultrashort high-intensity laser pulse and plasma in the presence of a perpendicular external dc magnetic field, the short pulse radiation from a magnetized plasma wakefield has been observed. Different nozzles are used in order to generate different densities and gas profiles. The neutral density of the gas-jet flow measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is found to be proportional to back pressure of the gas jet in the range of 1 to 8 atm. Strength of the applied dc magnetic field varies from 0 to 8 kG at the interaction region. The frequency of the emitted radiation with the pulse width of 200 ps (detection limit) is in the millimeter wave range. Polarization and spatial distributions of the experimental data are measured to be in good agreement with the theory based on the V(p)xB radiation scheme, where V(p) is the phase velocity of the electron plasma wave and B is the steady magnetic field intensity. Characteristics of the radiation are extensively studied as a function of plasma density and magnetic field strength. These experiments should contribute to the development of a new kind of millimeter wavelength radiation source that is tunable in frequency, pulse duration, and intensity.

Propagation and dispersion of electrostatic waves in the ionospheric E region

Abstract. Low-frequency electrostatic fluctuations in the ionospheric E region were detected by instruments on the ROSE rockets. The phase velocity and dispersion of plasma waves in the ionospheric E region are determined by band-pass filtering and cross-correlating data of the electric-field fluctuations detected by the probes on the ROSE F4 rocket. The results were confirmed by a different method of analysis of the same data. The results show that the waves propagate in the Hall-current direction with a velocity somewhat below the ion sound speed obtained for ionospheric conditions during the flight. It is also found that the waves are dispersive, with the longest wavelengths propagating with the lowest velocity.

On the phase velocity of plasma waves in a self-modulated laser wake-field accelerator

The properties of the wake field excited by a flattop laser pulse with a sharp leading edge and a power below the critical one for relativistic self-focusing are studied analytically and numerically with emphasis on the phase velocity of the plasma wave. The paraxial model describing modulation of the pulse spot size is shown to provide a good quantitative description, including preexponential factors, of the wake field during the linear stage of the resonant self-modulation instability. Though the phase velocity of the excited plasma wave is shown to be close to the group velocity of the laser pulse, the relativistic γ-factor corresponding to the phase velocity, which is a crucial parameter for particle acceleration, can be substantially less than that of the group velocity. Fortunately, for the considered three-dimensional regime of self-modulation, the noticeable difference between these two γ-factors takes place only in the initial stage of the instability and vanishes in the later stages.

Plasma guiding and wakefield generation for second-generation experiments

A design study has been carried out for a second-generation experiment on laser guiding and wakefield excitation in a channel. From simple scaling laws for the wakefield amplitude, dephasing length, the relativistic group velocity factor /spl gamma//sub g/, and energy gain with and without guiding, we find that the parameter regime for a compact single stage GeV accelerator favors laser systems producing short pulses (10 fs/spl les//spl tau//spl les/100 fs), each containing an energy on the order of 100 mJ to a few J's. Taking the dephasing length as the maximum acceleration distance, plasma channels with lengths of 1-10 cm and densities of 10/sup 17/-10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/ need to be produced; whereas the design study has been primarily concerned with diffraction and channel guiding, dephasing and depletion limits, and linear wakefield theory, aspects of the effect of the plasma wave on the evolution of the laser pulse are discussed. We find that transverse and longitudinal pulse distortions could indeed affect the generated plasma wave phase velocity and amplitude, and hence may limit the achievable energy gains over the one-dimensional (1-D) linear estimates. Some issues for experiments on prototype small accelerators (100 MeV-1 GeV, cm scale) are also discussed.

Trapping and acceleration in nonlinear plasma waves

The trapping and acceleration of a test electron in a nonlinear plasma wave is analyzed in one dimension using Hamiltonian dynamics. The plasma wave is described by a nonlinear, cold fluid model. The maximum energy gain and the minimum energy required for trapping of the test electron are determined. The separatrix is plotted for several values of plasma wave amplitude. In the large wave amplitude limit, the maximum energy of a trapped electron scales as 2γ2pE2z, where γp is the relativistic factor associated with plasma wave phase velocity and Ez is the electric field amplitude of the nonlinear plasma wave. This is in contrast to the well-known results for a sinusoidal wave, in which the maximum energy scales as 4γ2pEz. As the nonlinear plasma wave approaches wavebreaking, the maximum energy is given by γmax→4γ3p−3γp, where γmax is the relativistic factor of the trapped electron.

Variation of type I plasma wave phase velocity with electron drift velocity in the equatorial electrojet

Using a 54.95‐MHz coherent backscatter radar at Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E; 0.5°N dip angle), the phase velocity variations of type I plasma waves generated by the modified two‐stream instability process in the equatorial electrojet have been measured on several occasions of large and rapid electric field fluctuations associated with geomagnetic substorms and storms. The measurements show a clear linear variation of type I wave phase velocity (VpI) over a considerable range with the simultaneously measured phase velocity (VpII) of gradient drift instability‐generated type II plasma waves. Since VpII is proportional to the drift velocity of electrons, the observed variations of VpI with VpII mean that VpI varies in step with the variations of the electron drift velocity Vey. The observed variation of VpI with Vey is consistent with the current theoretical understanding that the plasma wave‐associated electric fields cause anomalous electron diffusion and heating which result in the stabilization of the type I wave phase velocity near the increased value of the ion‐acoustic velocity. The enhanced electron temperatures estimated from the largest values of the observed VpI are found to be 2.0‐2.4 times the ambient value in the absence of waves.