Measurements of the cosmic-ray hydrogen and helium spectra at energies from 20 to 800 TeV are presented. The experiments were performed on a series of twelve balloon Ñights, including several long duration Australia to South America and Antarctic circumpolar Ñights. No clear evidence is seen for a spectral break. Both the hydrogen and the helium spectra are consistent with power laws over the entire energy range, with integral spectral indices 1.80^0.04 and for the protons and helium, respec-1.68~0 .06 0.04 tively. The results are fully consistent with expectations based on supernova shock acceleration coupled with a "" leaky box ÏÏ model of propagation through the Galaxy.
A new regime of laser-matter interactions in which the quiver motion of plasma electrons is fully relativistic, with energies extending well above the threshold for nuclear processes, is studied using a petawatt laser system. In solid target experiments with focused intensities exceeding 10(20) W/cm(2), high energy electron generation, hard bremsstrahlung, and nuclear phenomena have been observed. We report here a quantitative comparison of the high energy electrons and the bremsstrahlung spectrum, as measured by photonuclear reaction yields, including the photoinduced fission of 238U.
The Petawatt laser at LLNL has opened a new regime of laser-matter interactions in which the quiver motion of plasma electrons is fully relativistic with energies extending well above the threshold for nuclear processes. In addition to -few MeV ponderomotive electrons produced in ultra-intense laser-solid interactions, we have found a high energy component of electrons extending to -100 MeV apparently from relativistic self-focusing and plasma acceleration in the underdense pre-formed plasma. The generation of hard bremsstrahlung, photo-nuclear reactions, and preliminary evidence for positron-electron pair production will be discussed.
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