Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T02:47:47.856Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electron energy spectrum produced by stochastic acceleration in the laser–plasma interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2017

E. Khalilzadeh ,
A. Chakhmachi  and
J. Yazdanpanah
E. Khalilzadeh*
Affiliation:
The Plasma Physics and Fusion Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran Department of Physics, Kharazmi University, 49 Mofateh Avenue, Tehran, Iran
A. Chakhmachi
Affiliation:
The Plasma Physics and Fusion Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
J. Yazdanpanah
Affiliation:
The Plasma Physics and Fusion Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: E. Khalilzadeh, The Plasma Physics and Fusion Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran and Department of Physics, Kharazmi University, 49 Mofateh Avenue, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: el_84111005@aut.ac.ir
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper, the electrons energy spectrum produced by stochastic acceleration in the interaction of an intense laser pulse with the underdense plasma is described by employing the fully kinetic 1D-3 V particle-in-cell simulation. In this way, two finite laser pulses with the same length 200 fs and with two different rise times 30 and 60 fs are typically selected. It is shown that the maximum energy of electrons in the laser pulse with the short rise time (30 fs) is about eight times greater than the maximum energy of the electrons with the long rise time (60 fs). Furthermore, unlike the pulse with the short rise time, the shape of energy spectrum and the electrons temperature in the long rise time laser pulse are approximately unchanged over the time. These results originated from the fact that in the case of long rise time laser pulse, all electrons are accelerated by the one chaotic mechanism because of the scattered fields generated in the plasma, but in the case of short rise time laser pulse, three different mechanisms accelerate the electrons: first, the stochastic acceleration because of the nonlinear wave breaking via plasma-vacuum boundary effect; second, the stochastic acceleration initiated by the wave breaking; and third, the direct laser acceleration of the released electrons.

Keywords

ChaosElectron energy spectrumLaser–plasma interactionParticle-in-cell simulationStochastic acceleration
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 265 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adam, J.C., Héron, A., Guérin, S., Laval, G., Mora, P. & Quesnel, B. (1997). Anomalous absorption of very high-intensity laser pulses propagating through moderately dense plasma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4765–4768.Google Scholar
Bauer, D., Mulse, P. & Steeb, W.H. (1995). Relativistic ponderomotive force, uphill acceleration, and transition to chaos. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4622–4625.Google Scholar
Bulanov, S., Naumova, N., Pegoraro, F. & Sakai, J. (1998). Particle injection into the wave acceleration phase due to nonlinear wake wave breaking. Phys. Rev. E 58, R5257.Google Scholar
Decker, C.D., Mori, W.B., Tzeng, K.C. & Katsouleas, T. (1996). The evolution of ultra-intense, short-pulse lasers in underdense plasmas. Phys. Plasmas 3, 2047–2056.Google Scholar
Esarey, E., Hafizi, B., Hubbard, R. & Ting, A. (1998). Trapping and acceleration in self-modulated laser wakefields. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5552–5555.Google Scholar
Escande, D.F. & Doveil, F. (1981). Renormalization method for the onset of stochasticity in a Hamiltonian system. Phys. Lett. A 83, 307–310.Google Scholar
Jackson, J.D. (1962). Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Khalilzadeh, E., Yazdanpanah, J., Jahanpanah, J. & Chakhmachi, A. (2016). Numerical modeling of radiative recombination during ionization of atoms by means of particle-in-cell simulation. Laser Part. Beams 34, 284–293.Google Scholar
Khalilzadeh, E., Yazdanpanah, J., Jahanpanah, J., Chakhmachi, A. & Yazdani, E. (2015). Electron residual energy due to stochastic heating in field-ionized plasma. Phys. Plasmas 22, 113115.Google Scholar
Li, Y.Y., Gu, Y.J., Zhu, Z., Li, X.F., Ban, H.Y., Kong, Q. & Kawata, S. (2011). Direct laser acceleration of electron by an ultra intense and short-pulsed laser in under-dense plasma. Phys. Plasmas 18, 053104.Google Scholar
Lichtenberg, A.J. & Lieberman, M.A. (1981). Regular and Stochastic Motion. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Litos, M., Adli, E., An, W., Clarke, C.I., Clayton, C.E., Corde, S., Delahaye, J.P., England, R.J., Fisher, A.S., Frederico, J., Gessner, S., Green, S.Z., Hogan, M.J., Joshi, C., Lu, W., Marsh, K.A., Mori, W.B., Muggli, P., Vafaei-Najafabadi, N., Walz, D., White, G., Wu, Z., Yakimenko, V. & Yocky, G. (2014). High-efficiency acceleration of an electron beam in a plasma wakefield accelerator. Nature 515, 92–95.Google Scholar
Mendonca, J.T. (1983). Threshold for electron heating by two electromagnetic waves. Phys. Rev. A 28, 3592–3598.Google Scholar
Mourou, G., Barty, C.P.J. & Perry, M.D. (1998). Ultrahigh-intensity lasers: Physics of the extreme on a tabletop. Phys. Today 51, 22–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradkar, B.S., Wei, M.S., Yabuuchi, T., Stephens, R.B., Haines, M.G., Krasheninnikov, S.I. & Beg, F.N. (2011). Numerical modeling of fast electron generation in the presence of preformed plasma in laser–matter interaction at relativistic intensities. Phys. Rev. E 83, 046401.Google Scholar
Sarachik, E.S. & Schappert, G.T. (1970). Classical theory of the scattering of intense laser radiation by free electrons. Phys. Rev. D 1, 2738–2753.Google Scholar
Shaw, J.L., Tsung, F.S., Vafaei-Najafabadi, N., Marsh, K.A., Lemos, N., Mori, W.B. & Joshi, C. (2014). Role of direct laser acceleration in energy gained by electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator with ionization injection. Plasma Phys. Controll. Fusion 56, 084006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheng, Z.M., Mima, K., Sentoku, Y., Jovanovic, M.S., Taguchi, T., Zhang, J. & Meyer-ter-Vehn, J. (2002). Stochastic heating and acceleration of electrons in colliding laser fields in plasma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 055004.Google Scholar
Sheng, Z.M., Mima, K., Zhang, J. & Meyer-ter-Vehn, J. (2004). Efficient acceleration of electrons with counterpropagating intense laser pulses in vacuum and underdense plasma. Phys. Rev. E 69, 016407.Google Scholar
Smith, G.R. & Kaufman, A.N. (1975). Stochastic acceleration by a single wave in a magnetic field. Phys. Rev. Lett. 34, 1613–1616.Google Scholar
Sprangle, P., Esarey, E. & Ting, A. (1990). Nonlinear theory of intense laser-plasma interaction. Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2011–2014.Google Scholar
Strickland, D. & Mourou, G. (1985). Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses. Opt. Commun. 56, 219–221.Google Scholar
Ting, A., Moore, C.I., Krushelnick, K., Manka, C., Esarey, E., Sprangle, P., Hubbard, R., Burris, H.R., Fischer, R. & Baine, M. (1997). Plasma wakefield generation and electron acceleration in a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator experiment. Phys. Plasmas 4, 1889–1899.Google Scholar
Tzeng, K.C., Mori, W.B. & Katsouleas, T. (1997). Electron beam characteristics from laser-driven wave breaking. Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 5258–5261.Google Scholar
Yazdani, E., Sadighi-Bonabi, R., Afarideh, H., Yadanpanah, J. & Hora, H. (2014). Enhanced laser ion acceleration with a multi-layer foam target assembly. Laser Part. Beams 32, 509–515.Google Scholar
Yazdanpanah, J. & Anvary, A. (2012). Time and space extended-particle in cell model for electromagnetic particle algorithms. Phys. Plasmas 19, 033110.Google Scholar
Yazdanpanah, J. & Anvary, A. (2014). Effects of initially energetic electrons on relativistic laser-driven electron plasma waves. Phys. Plasmas 21, 023101.Google Scholar
Zhang, P., Saleh, N., Chen, C., Sheng, Z.M. & Umstadter, D. (2003 a). Laser-energy transfer and enhancement of plasma waves and electron beams by interfering high-intensity laser pulses. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 225001.Google Scholar
Zhang, P., Saleh, N., Chen, C., Sheng, Z.M. & Umstadter, D. (2003 b). An optical trap for relativistic plasma. Phys. Plasmas 10, 2093–2099.Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Khudik, V.N. & Shvets, G. (2015). Synergistic laser-wakefield and direct-laser acceleration in the plasma-bubble regime. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 184801.Google Scholar