Super-ponderomotive electron acceleration in blowout plasma heated by multi-picosecond relativistic intensity laser pulse

The dependence of the mean kinetic energy of laser-accelerated electrons on the laser intensity, so-called ponderomotive scaling, was derived theoretically with consideration of the motion of a single electron in oscillating laser fields. This scaling explains well the experimental results obtained...

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Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Kojima, Sadaoki, Hata, Masayasu, Iwata, Natsumi, Arikawa, Yasunobu, Morace, Alessio, Sakata, Shouhei, Lee, Seungho, Matsuo, Kazuki, Farley Law, King Fai, Morita, Hiroki, Ochiai, Yugo, Yogo, Akifumi, Nagatomo, Hideo, Ozaki, Tetsuo, Johzaki, Tomoyuki, Sunahara, Atsushi, Sakagami, Hitoshi, Zhang, Zhe, Tosaki, Shota, Abe, Yuki, Kawanaka, Junji, Tokita, Shigeki, Nakai, Mitsuo, Nishimura, Hiroaki, Shiraga, Hiroyuki, Azechi, Hiroshi, Sentoku, Yasuhiko, Fujioka, Shinsuke
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 07.03.2018
Subjects
Dependence
Electric fields
Electron acceleration
Electrons
Kinetic energy
Laser beam heating
Laser plasma interactions
Lasers
Plasma interactions
Pulse duration
Relativism
Relativistic effects
Scaling
Single electrons
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Summary:The dependence of the mean kinetic energy of laser-accelerated electrons on the laser intensity, so-called ponderomotive scaling, was derived theoretically with consideration of the motion of a single electron in oscillating laser fields. This scaling explains well the experimental results obtained with high-intensity pulses and durations shorter than a picosecond; however, this scaling is no longer applicable to the multi-picosecond (multi-ps) facility experiments. Here, we experimentally clarified the generation of the super-ponderomotive-relativistic electrons (SP-REs) through multi-ps relativistic laser-plasma interactions using prepulse-free LFEX laser pulses that were realized using a plasma mirror (PM). The SP-REs are produced with direct laser acceleration assisted by the self-generated quasi-static electric field and with loop-injected direct acceleration by the self- generated quasi-static magnetic field, which grow in a blowout plasma heated by a multi-ps laser pulse. Finally, we theoretically derive the threshold pulse duration to boost the acceleration of REs, which provides an important insight into the determination of laser pulse duration at kilojoule- petawatt laser facilities.
ISSN:2331-8422