The acceleration of ions from ultra-thin foils has been investigated using 250 TW, sub-ps laser pulses, focused on target at intensities up to 3×10 20 W cm −2 . The ion spectra show the appearance of narrow band features for proton and Carbon peaked at higher energy (in the 5-10 MeV/nucleon range) and with significantly higher flux than previously reported. The spectral features, and their scaling with laser and target parameters, provide evidence of a multispecies scenario of Radiation Pressure Acceleration in the Light Sail mode, as confirmed by analytical estimates and 2D Particle In Cell simulations. The scaling indicates that monoenergetic peaks with more than 100 MeV/nucleon energies are obtainable with moderate improvements of the target and laser characteristics, which are within reach of ongoing technical developments.

Using an ultrafast pulse of mega-electron-volt energy protons accelerated from a laser-irradiated foil, we have heated solid density aluminum plasmas to temperatures in excess of 15 eV. By measuring the temperature and the expansion rate of the heated Al plasma simultaneously and with picosecond time resolution we have found the predictions of the SESAME Livermore equation-of-state (LEOS) tables to be accurate to within 18%, in this dense plasma regime, where there have been few previous experimental measurements.

The dynamics of magnetic fields with an amplitude of several tens of megagauss, generated at both sides of a solid target irradiated with a high-intensity (~10(19) W/cm(2)) picosecond laser pulse, has been spatially and temporally resolved using a proton imaging technique. The amplitude of the magnetic fields is sufficiently large to have a constraining effect on the radial expansion of the plasma sheath at the target surfaces. These results, supported by numerical simulations and simple analytical modeling, may have implications for ion acceleration driven by the plasma sheath at the rear side of the target as well as for the laboratory study of self-collimated high-energy plasma jets.

An ultracompact laser-plasma-generated, fs-scale electron double bunch system can be injected into a high-density driver/witness-type plasma wakefield accelerator afterburner stage to boost the witness electrons monoenergetically to energies far beyond twice their initial energy on the GeV scale. The combination of conservation of monoenergetic phase-space structure and fs duration with radial electric plasma fields E(r)∼100  GV/m leads to dramatic transversal witness compression and unprecedented charge densities. It seems feasible to upscale and implement the scheme to future accelerator systems.

Planetary collisions in the solar system typically induce melting and vaporization of the impactor and a certain volume of the target. To study the dynamics of quasi‐instantaneous melting and subsequent quenching under postshock P‐T conditions of impact melting, we used continuous‐wave laser irradiation to melt and vaporize sandstone, iron meteorite, and basalt. Using high‐speed imaging, temperature measurements, and petrologic investigations of the irradiation targets, we show that laser‐generated melts exhibit typical characteristics of impact melts (particularly ballistic ejecta). We then calculate the entropy gains of the laser‐generated melts and compare them with the entropy gains associated with the thermodynamic states produced in hypervelocity impacts at various velocities. In conclusion, our experiments extend currently attainable postshock temperatures in impact experiments to ranges commensurate with impacts in the velocity range of 4–20 km s–1 and allow to study timescales and magnitudes of petrogenetic processes in impact melts.

The dynamics of transient electric fields generated by the interaction of high intensity laser pulses with underdense plasmas has been studied experimentally with the proton projection imaging technique. The formation of a charged channel, the propagation of its front edge and the late electric field evolution have been characterised with high temporal and spatial resolution. Particle-in-cell simulations and an electrostatic, ponderomotive model reproduce the experimental features and trace them back to the ponderomotive expulsion of electrons and the subsequent ion acceleration.

Absorption measurements on solid conducting targets have been performed in s and p polarization with ultrashort, high-contrast Ti:sapphire laser pulses at intensities up to 5x10{16}W/cm{2} and pulse duration of 8 fs. The particular relevance of the reported absorption measurements lies in the fact that the extremely short laser pulse interacts with matter close to solid density during the entire pulse duration. A pronounced increase of absorption for p polarization at increasing angles is observed reaching 77% for an incidence angle of 80 degrees . Simulations performed using a 2D particle in cell code show a very good agreement with the experimental data for a plasma profile of L/lambda approximately 0.01.

We simulated entrainment of carbonates (calcite, dolomite) in silicate impact melts by 1‐bar laser melting of silicate–carbonate composite targets, using sandstone, basalt, calcite marble, limestone, dolomite marble, and iron meteorite as starting materials. We demonstrate that carbonate assimilation by silicate melts of variable composition is extremely fast (seconds to minutes), resulting in contamination of silicate melts with carbonate‐derived CaO and MgO and release of CO2 at the silicate melt–carbonate interface. We identify several processes, i.e., (1) decomposition of carbonates releases CO2 and produces residual oxides (CaO, MgO); (2) incorporation of residual oxides from proximally dissociating carbonates into silicate melts; (3) rapid back‐reactions between residual CaO and CO2 produce idiomorphic calcite crystallites and porous carbonate quench products; (4) high‐temperature reactions between Ca‐contaminated silicate melts and carbonates yield typical skarn minerals and residual oxide melts; (5) mixing and mingling between Ca‐ or Ca,Mg‐contaminated and Ca‐ or Ca,Mg‐normal silicate melts; (6) precipitation of Ca‐ or Ca,Mg‐rich silicates from contaminated silicate melts upon quenching. Our experiments reproduce many textural and compositional features of typical impact melts originating from silicate–carbonate targets. They reinforce hypotheses that thermal decomposition of carbonates, rapid back‐reactions between decomposition products, and incorporation of residual oxides into silicate impact melts are prevailing processes during impact melting of mixed silicate–carbonate targets. However, by comparing our results with previous studies and thermodynamic considerations on the phase diagrams of calcite and quartz, we envisage that carbonate impact melts are readily produced during adiabatic decompression from high shock pressure, but subsequently decompose due to heat influx from coexisting silicate impact melts or hot breccia components. Under certain circumstances, postshock conditions may favor production and conservation of carbonate impact melts. We conclude that the response of mixed carbonate–silicate targets to impact might involve melting and decomposition of carbonates, the dominant response being governed by a complex variety of factors.