Nonlinear electrodynamics of the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with a thin foil

Abstract

An analytical description of the interaction of laser light with a foil, described as a thin slab of overdense plasma, is presented together with the results of multidimensional particle in cell simulations. The matching conditions at the foil result in nonlinear boundary conditions for the wave equation. The conditions for relativistic transparency are given. The interaction with the foil leads to shaping of the laser pulse. In the case of oblique incidence of a relativistically intense pulse, nonlinear coupling modifies the pulse polarization and causes emission of high harmonics and generation of an electric current. Strong focalization of the reflected pulse, in particular in three-dimensional simulations, is observed for normal and oblique incidence due to the induced distortion of the foil surface. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(98)03507-1]

Plasma channeling by multiple short-pulse lasers

“…The channeling or boring of an intense laser pulse in plasma and ion acceleration have been investigated extensively (Wilks et al, 1992;Borisov et al, 1992;Tabak et al, 1994;Zepf et al, 1996;Borghesi et al, 1997Borghesi et al, , 2002Borghesi et al, , 2007Fuchs et al, 1998;Vshivkov et al, 1998;Tanaka et al, 2000;Willi et al, 2001;Kodama et al, 2001;Najmudin et al, 2003;Hoffmann et al 2005;Flippo et al 2007;Laska et al 2007;Lei et al, 2007). In the relativistic-intensity regime, the relativistic ponderomotive force, which is proportional to the gradient of the laser intensity, dominates the laserplasma interaction (f p / ÀrI).…”

Theoretical Investigation of Controlled Generation of a Dense Attosecond Relativistic Electron Bunch from the Interaction of an Ultrashort Laser Pulse with a Nanofilm

“…For the proof-ofprinciple experiments, using, e.g., graphene sheets [20] as a target (l 2 nm, ' 2) and with a laser spot size of about w 0 ' , the laser power of 2 TW is enough. If the laser pulse has a smooth front, then the electrons of the REM remain motionless in the longitudinal direction until the laser amplitude reaches the value a 0 [12,17]. After that, the REM will be formed by the first half-cycle, which has the amplitude a 0f larger than .…”

Flying mirror model for interaction of a super-intense laser pulse with a thin plasma layer: Transparency and shaping of linearly polarized laser pulses

“…This is the so-called viscous regime 22 of laser pulse interaction with a thin plasma layer, which is characterized by a high reflectance of the plasma layer. For this regime, the solutions found before 3,27 are valid. However, for large field amplitudes a 0 ജ ͱ 2͑ 0 2 + ␣ 2 ͒ ͑ 0 Ӎ 1 is the value for at the beginning of the longitudinal oscillation cycle, cf.…”

“…It is interesting to note that just the same expression was obtained earlier 3 for the case of a circularly polarized laser pulse, which was, however, exact ͑inside the averaging method͒ for the circular polarization.…”

“…The predictions of the developed flying mirror model are compared with the predictions of the sliding mirror model [1][2][3] and the pure Coulomb model 22 ͑in which the radiation reaction force is omitted͒, and also with the one-dimensional particle-in-cell ͑1D PIC͒ simulations. From this comparison, we conclude that the flying mirror model describes the transmittance of a real thin plasma layer better than other onesheet models when the laser pulse amplitude is high enough ͑and electrons have relativistic longitudinal momenta͒.…”