Experiment vs. theory on electric inhibition of fast electron penetration of targets
32nd EPS Conference on Plasma Physics 2005, EPS 2005, Held with the 8th International Workshop on Fast Ignition of Fusion Targets - Europhysics Conference Abstracts 1 (2005) 121-124
High intensity laser-plasma sources of ions - Physics and future applications
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 47:12 B (2005)
Abstract:
The interaction of high intensity laser pulses with plasmas is an efficient source of megaelectronvolt ions. Recent observations of the production of directional energetic ion 'beams' from the front and rear surfaces of thin foil targets upon irradiation by intense laser pulses have prompted a renewed interest into research in this area. In addition, other recent observations have shown that high energy ions can be observed from intense laser interaction with low density plasma as a result of ponderomotive shock acceleration. The source characteristics and acceleration mechanisms for these ions have been extensively investigated, and there have also been a number of proposed applications for these ion beams, such as for injectors into subsequent conventional acceleration stages, for medicine, for probing of dense plasmas and for inertial confinement fusion experiments. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.Proton acceleration and high energy density physics from laser foil interactions
Proceedings of the IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference 2005 (2005) 573-575
Abstract:
Our team has provided the first observations of energetic ion beam production from the front and rear surfaces thin foil targets upon irradiation by an intense laser beam in the relativistic regime. We invented a new plasma diagnostic technique in which "layered" track detectors and dosimetry media were used to simultaneously record ion angular emission patterns as well as ion spectral information. These results have led to a large number of further experiments in which similar measurement techniques were used and in which protons have been measured up to 58 MeV. The source and acceleration mechanisms for these proton beams have been extensively investigated. There have also been a number of proposed applications for these ion beams, such as for injectors into subsequent conventional acceleration stages, for probing of dense plasmas and for inertial confinement fusion experiments. © 2005 IEEE.Observation of ion temperatures exceeding background electron temperatures in petawatt laser-solid experiments
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 47:11 (2005)
Abstract:
Neutron time of flight signals have been observed with a high resolution neutron spectrometer using the petawatt arm of the Vulcan laser facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory from plastic sandwich targets containing a deuterated layer. The neutron spectra have two elements: a high-energy component generated by beam-fusion reactions and a thermal component around 2.45 MeV. The ion temperatures calculated from the neutron signal width clearly demonstrate a dependence on the front layer thickness and are significantly higher than electron temperatures measured under similar conditions. The ion heating process is intensity dependent and is not observed with laser intensities on target below 1020 W cm-2. The measurements are consistent with an ion instability driven by electron perturbations. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.Observation of monoenergetic relativistic electron beams from intense laser - Plasma interactions
Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (QELS) 3 (2005) 1479-1481