Ultra-intense Laser Facilities Research Articles

Enhanced ion acceleration from transparency-driven foils demonstrated at two ultraintense laser facilities

Laser-driven ion sources are a rapidly developing technology producing high energy, high peak current beams. Their suitability for applications, such as compact medical accelerators, motivates development of robust acceleration schemes using widely available repetitive ultraintense femtosecond lasers. These applications not only require high beam energy, but also place demanding requirements on the source stability and controllability. This can be seriously affected by the laser temporal contrast, precluding the replication of ion acceleration performance on independent laser systems with otherwise similar parameters. Here, we present the experimental generation of >60 MeV protons and >30 MeV u−1 carbon ions from sub-micrometre thickness Formvar foils irradiated with laser intensities >1021 Wcm2. Ions are accelerated by an extreme localised space charge field ≳30 TVm−1, over a million times higher than used in conventional accelerators. The field is formed by a rapid expulsion of electrons from the target bulk due to relativistically induced transparency, in which relativistic corrections to the refractive index enables laser transmission through normally opaque plasma. We replicate the mechanism on two different laser facilities and show that the optimum target thickness decreases with improved laser contrast due to reduced pre-expansion. Our demonstration that energetic ions can be accelerated by this mechanism at different contrast levels relaxes laser requirements and indicates interaction parameters for realising application-specific beam delivery.

Temporal contrast improvement through cascaded second-order nonlinear processes in a thin BBO crystal.

We demonstrate temporal contrast improvement through cascaded second-order nonlinear processes in a 340-µm BBO crystal. The process was initiated by second harmonic (SH) generation, followed by difference frequency generation (DFG) between the SH and the short wavelength part of the fundamental wave (FW). The idler of DFG was selected by a spectral filter, and an output pulse energy of 573 µJ was obtained at 1 kHz with excellent spatial profile and a power fluctuation as low as 0.076% (rms) in 14 hours. The temporal contrast was improved by more than 2 orders of magnitude to approximately 1011, which could be further enhanced with different spectral filters. The excellent stability, energy scalability, and contrast enhancement ability make this simple and robust method very suitable to be integrated into the pulse cleaning system in many different ultra-intense laser facilities.

An Active Dose Measurement Device for Ultra-short, Ultra-intense Laser Facilities.

Ultra-short, ultra-intense laser facilities could produce ultra-intense pulsed radiation fields. Currently, only passive detectors are fit for dose measurement in this circumstance. Since the laser device could generate a dose up to tens of mSv outside the chamber in tens of picoseconds, resulting in a high instantaneous dose rate of ~107 Sv s-1, it is necessary to perform real-time dose measurement to ensure the safety of nearby workers. Due to fast response and excellent radiation resistance, a diamond-based dose measurement device was designed and developed, and its dose-rate response and its feasibility for such occasions were characterized. The measurement results showed that the detector had a good dose-rate linearity in the range of 3.39 mGy h-1 to 10.58 Gy h-1 for an x-ray source with energy of 39 keV to 208 keV. No saturation phenomenon was observed, and the experimental results were consistent with the results obtained from Monte Carlo simulation. The charge collection efficiency was about 80%. Experimental measurements and simulations with this dose measurement device were carried out based on the "SG-II" laser device. The experimental and simulation results preliminarily verified the feasibility of using the diamond detector to measure the dose generated by ultra-short, ultra-intense laser devices. The results provided valuable information for the follow-up real-time dose measurement work of ultra-short, ultra-intense laser devices.

Electromagnetic pulse emission from target holders during short-pulse laser interactions

For the first time, a global model of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) emission connects charge separation in the laser target to quantitative measurements of the electromagnetic field. We present a frequency-domain dipole antenna model which predicts the quantity of charge accumulated in a laser target as well as the EMP amplitude and frequency. The model is validated against measurements from several high-intensity laser facilities, providing insight into target physics and informing the design of next-generation ultra-intense laser facilities. EMP amplitude is proportional to the total charge accumulated on the target, but we demonstrate that it is not directly affected by target charging time (and therefore the laser pulse duration), provided the charging time is shorter than the antenna characteristic time. We propose two independent methods for estimating the charging time based on the laser pulse duration. We also investigate the impact of target holder geometry on EMPs using cylindrical, conical, and helical holders.

Determining the carrier-envelope phase of relativistic laser pulses via electron-momentum distribution

The impacts of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of a long relativistic tightly-focused laser pulse on the dynamics of a counter-propagating electron beam have been investigated in the, so-called, electron reflection regime, requiring the Lorentz factor of the electron $\gamma$ to be approximately two orders of magnitudes lower than the dimensionless laser field parameter $\xi$. The electrons are reflected at the rising edge of the laser pulse due to the ponderomotive force of the focused laser beam, and an asymmetric electron angular distribution emerges along the laser polarization direction, which sensitively depends on the CEP of the driving laser pulse for weak radiative stochastic effects. The CEP siganatures are observable at laser intensities of the order or larger than $10^{19}$ W/cm$^2$ and the pulse duration up to 10 cycles. The CEP detection resolution is proportional to the electron beam density and can achieve approximately $0.1^{\circ}$ at an electron density of about $10^{15}$ cm$^{-3}$. The method is applicable for currently available ultraintense laser facilities with the laser peak power from tens of terawatt to multi-petawatt region.

Efficient production of strong magnetic fields from ultraintense ultrashort laser pulse with capacitor-coil target

An ultraintense femtosecond laser pulse was used, for the first time, to produce a strong magnetic field with controlled shapes by interactions with a capacitor-coil target with high efficiency. The temporal evolution of the strong magnetic field was obtained by the time-gated proton radiography method. A comparison of high-resolution radiographic images of proton deflection and particle-track simulations indicates a peak magnetic field of ∼20 T. The energy conversion efficiency from the ultraintense laser pulse to the magnetic field is as high as ∼10%. A simple model of the ultraintense laser-driven capacitor-coil target gives a relationship between the magnetic field strength and the electron temperature produced by the laser. Our results indicate that magnetic fields of tens of tesla could be stably produced by most of the existing ultraintense laser facilities. It potentially opens new frontiers in basic physics which require strong magnetic field environments.

Positron radiography of ignition-relevant ICF capsules

Laser-generated positrons are evaluated as a probe source to radiograph in-flight ignition-relevant inertial confinement fusion capsules. Current ultraintense laser facilities are capable of producing 2 × 1012 relativistic positrons in a narrow energy bandwidth and short time duration. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the unique characteristics of such positrons allow for the reconstruction of both capsule shell radius and areal density between 0.002 and 2 g/cm2. The energy-downshifted positron spectrum and angular scattering of the source particles are sufficient to constrain the conditions of the capsule between preshot and stagnation. We evaluate the effects of magnetic fields near the capsule surface using analytic estimates where it is shown that this diagnostic can tolerate line integrated field strengths of 100 T mm.

Seeded QED cascades in counterpropagating laser pulses.

The growth rates of seeded QED cascades in counterpropagating lasers are calculated with first-principles two- and three-dimensional QED-PIC (particle-in-cell) simulations. The dependence of the growth rate on the laser polarization and intensity is compared with analytical models that support the findings of the simulations. The models provide insight regarding the qualitative trend of the cascade growth when the intensity of the laser field is varied. A discussion about the cascade's threshold is included, based on the analytical and numerical results. These results show that relativistic pair plasmas and efficient conversion from laser photons to γ rays can be observed with the typical intensities planned to operate on future ultraintense laser facilities such as ELI or Vulcan.

Modeling of radiative and quantum electrodynamics effects in PIC simulations of ultra-relativistic laser-plasma interaction

Next generation of ultra-intense laser facilities will lead to novel physical conditions ruled by collective and quantum electrodynamics effects, such as synchrotron-like emission of high-energy photons and e+e- pair generation. In view of the future experiments performed in this regime, the latter processes have been implemented into the particle-in-cell code CALDER.

Probing the quantum vacuum with ultra intense laser pulses

This article presents 1) The theoretical background of strong field physics along with vacuum structure and stability; 2) The instrumental developments in the area of pulsed lasers and considers the physics case for the construction of ultra-intense laser facilities; and 3) The applied and fundamental uses of ultra-intense lasers.

Measuring fast electron distribution functions at intensities up to 1021Wcm−2

Here we present results from ultra-intense experiments demonstrating the viability of polarization spectroscopy as a diagnostic of the electron return current and spatial anisotropy and distribution function of the fast electron beam . The measurements extend to ultra-relativistic intensities of 10 21 W cm −2 , including laser–plasma interaction regimes important for fast ignition studies, for example HiPER, and the development of secondary sources from next generation ultra-short pulse, ultra-intense laser facilities such as Astra-Gemini and ELI. As an in situ diagnostic, s pectroscopic measurements are vital to understanding fast electron beams, enabling extrapolation of results to define fast ignition inertial confinement fusion and secondary source facilities.