Energy distributions are measured for ions emitted upon Coulomb explosion of Ar n clusters (n = 400-900) upon irradiation by intense three-cycle pulses (10 fs) of 800-nm laser light of peak intensity 5 × 10 14 W cm −2 . With few-cycle pulses, there is insufficient time for the cluster to undergo expansion; this results in overall dynamics that are significantly different from those in the many-cycle regime. The peak ion energies are much lower than those obtained when 100-fs pulses of the same intensity are used; they are almost independent of the size of the cluster (over the range 400-900 atoms). Ion yields are measured to be larger in the direction that is perpendicular to the laser-polarization vector than along it. Model molecular dynamics calculations are used to qualitatively rationalize this unexpected anisotropy in terms of shielding by a spatially asymmetric electronic-charge cloud within the cluster.

We study the effects of laser pulse focussing on the spectral properties of Thomson scattered radiation. Modelling the laser as a paraxial beam we find that, in all but the most extreme cases of focussing, the temporal envelope has a much bigger effect on the spectrum than the focussing itself. For the case of ultra-short pulses, where the paraxial model is no longer valid, we adopt a sub-cycle vector beam description of the field. It is found that the emission harmonics are blue shifted and broaden out in frequency space as the pulse becomes shorter. Additionally the carrier envelope phase becomes important, resulting in an angular asymmetry in the spectrum. We then use the same model to study the effects of focussing beyond the limit where the paraxial expansion is valid. It is found that fields focussed to sub-wavelength spot sizes produce spectra that are qualitatively similar to those from sub-cycle pulses due to the shortening of the pulse with focussing. Finally, we study high-intensity fields and find that, in general, the focussing makes negligible difference to the spectra in the regime of radiation reaction. * cnharvey@physics.org † mattias.marklund@chalmers.se ‡ amol.holkundkar@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

A three dimensional relativistic molecular dynamic model for studying the laser interaction with atomic clusters is presented. The model is used to simulate the interaction dynamics of deuterium, argon, and xenon clusters when irradiated by the short and high intensity laser pulses. The interaction of 82 Å argon cluster by 100 fs, 806 nm laser pulse with the peak intensity of 8 Â 10 15 W=cm 2 is studied and compared with the experimental results. The maximum ion energy in this case is found to be about 200 keV. Ion energies along and perpendicular to laser polarization direction is calculated and asymmetry along laser polarization direction is detected which is further explained on the basis of charge flipping model. The effect of cluster density on the energetics of the laser-cluster interaction is also being studied, which provides a qualitative understanding of the presence of optimum cluster size for maximum ion energies.

We consider the Thomson scattering of an electron in an ultra-intense chirped laser pulse. It is found that the introduction of a negative chirp means the electron enters a high frequency region of the field while it still has a large proportion of its original energy. This results in a significant enhancement of the energy and intensity of the emitted radiation as compared to the case without chirping.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Ultra-intense lasers facilitate studies of matter and particle dynamics at unprecedented electromagnetic field strengths. In order to quantify these studies, precise knowledge of the laser’s spatiotemporal shape is required. Due to material damage, however, conventional metrology devices are inapplicable at highest intensities, limiting laser metrology there to indirect schemes at attenuated intensities. Direct metrology, capable of benchmarking these methods, thus far only provides static properties of short-pulsed lasers with no scheme suggested to extract dynamical laser properties. Most notably, this leaves an ultra-intense laser pulse’s duration in its focus unknown at full intensity. Here we demonstrate how the electromagnetic radiation pattern emitted by an electron bunch with a temporal energy chirp colliding with the laser pulse depends on the laser’s pulse duration. This could eventually facilitate to determine the pulse’s temporal duration directly in its focus at full intensity, in an example case to an accuracy of order 10% for fs-pulses, indicating the possibility of an order-of magnitude estimation of this previously inaccessible parameter.