Influence of laser polarization on collective electron dynamics in ultraintense laser-foil interactions

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Gonzalez-Izquierdo, Bruno and Gray, Ross J. and King, Martin and Wilson, Robbie and Dance, Rachel J. and Powell, Haydn and MacLellan, David A. and McCreadie, John and Butler, Nicholas M. H. and Hawkes, Steve and Green, James S. and Murphy, Chris D. and Stockhausen, Luca C. and Carroll, David C. and Booth, Nicola and Scott, Graeme G. and Borghesi, Marco and Neely, David and McKenna, Paul (2016) Influence of laser polarization on collective electron dynamics in ultraintense laser-foil interactions. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 4. e33. ISSN 2052-3289 (https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2016.35)

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Abstract

The collective response of electrons in an ultrathin foil target irradiated by an ultraintense (~6x10^{20} W/cm^{2}) laser pulse is investigated experimentally and via 3D particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that if the target is sufficiently thin that the laser induces significant radiation pressure, but not thin enough to become relativistically transparent to the laser light, the resulting relativistic electron beam is elliptical, with the major axis of the ellipse directed along the laser polarization axis. When the target thickness is decreased such that it becomes relativistically transparent early in the interaction with the laser pulse, diffraction of the transmitted laser light occurs through a so called `relativistic plasma aperture', inducing structure in the spatial-intensity profile of the beam of energetic electrons. It is shown that the electron beam profile can be modified by variation of the target thickness and degree of ellipticity in the laser polarization.

ORCID iDs

Gonzalez-Izquierdo, Bruno, Gray, Ross J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0610-9595, King, Martin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3370-6141, Wilson, Robbie, Dance, Rachel J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8252-5342, Powell, Haydn, MacLellan, David A., McCreadie, John, Butler, Nicholas M. H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3650-5230, Hawkes, Steve ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6057-7448, Green, James S., Murphy, Chris D., Stockhausen, Luca C., Carroll, David C., Booth, Nicola, Scott, Graeme G., Borghesi, Marco, Neely, David and McKenna, Paul ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8061-7091;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:57455
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    27 September 2016
    Published
    15 August 2016
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics > Optics. Light
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:18 Aug 2016 10:42
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 11:30
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/57455
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