This paper deals with the contribution of secondary electron emission, produced during the slowing down of fast electrons, on the intensity and temporal shape of the generated Kα pulse. The problem is treated in a general manner emphasizing laser–plasma interactions, where it was suggested in the literature that these electrons could play an important role on the temporal duration. Here, we make use of a hybrid model which includes secondary emission in conjunction with the continuous slowing down approximation (CSDA). The results are compared with those obtained from a simple CSDA calculation, with no detailed accounting of secondary emission and without straggling. Secondary electrons were calculated to contribute up to an additional 20% to the total Kα yield and in the case of monoenergetic electron beams in thick targets also to influence the temporal shape. The pulse duration is not affected in a significant manner by the secondary electrons.

Recently, we have proposed an experiment to test the persistence of the polarization in a fusion process (D+D→3He+n), using a powerful laser hitting a polarized HD target. The purpose of the present contribution is to examine in more detail the experimental constraints, to move from a principle proposal to a doable experiment. Some of the difficulties are as follows: Production of a windowless cryogenic HD target and target cryostat vacuum breakdown, identification of thermal fusion or accelerated deuterons, inducing nuclear reactions, and finally, a clear signature of the polarization persistence of the fused deuterons must be found. Those points will be reviewed and discussed in the scope of the new results presented at this conference.

Third-harmonic Brillouin backscattering (3HBBS) instability is investigated in the interaction of a picosecond extraordinary laser pulse with a homogeneous transversely magnetized underdense plasma. Nonlinear coupled equations that describe the instability are derived and solved for a weakly coupled regime to find the maximum growth rate. The nonlinearity arises through the combined effect of relativistic mass increase, static magnetic field, and ponderomotive acceleration of plasma electrons. The growth rate is found to decrease as the static magnetic field increases. It also increases by increasing both plasma density and laser intensity. It is also established that the growth rate of 3HBBS instability in a magnetized plasma is lower than that of fundamental Brillouin backscattering instability.

Proton radiography is used for advanced hydrotesting as a new type radiography technology due to its powerful penetration capability and high detection efficiency. A new proton radiography terminal will be developed to radiograph static samples at the Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Science. The proton beam with the maximum energy of 2.6 GeV will be produced by Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou-Cooling Storage Ring. The proton radiography terminal consists of the matching magnetic lens and the Zumbro lens system. In this paper, the design scheme and all optic parameters of this beam terminal for 2.6 GeV proton energy are presented by simulating the beam optics using WINAGILE code. My-BOC code is used to test the particle tracking of proton radiography beam line. Geant4 and G4beamline codes are used for simulating the proton radiography system. The results show that the transmission efficiency of proton without target is 100%, and the effect of secondary particles can be neglected. To test this proton radiography system, the proton images for an aluminum plate sample with two rectangular orifices and a step brass plate sample are respectively simulated using Geant4 code. The results show that the best spatial resolution is about 36 μm, and the differences of the thickness are not >10%.

The generation of fast ion beams in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration by intense laser pulses has been studied for targets with different ion components. We find that the oscillation of the longitudinal electric field for accelerating ions can be effectively suppressed by using a two-ion-species target, because fast ions from a two-ion-species target are distributed into more bunches and each bunch bears less charge. Consequently, the energy spread of ion beams generated in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration can be greatly reduced down to 3.7% according to our numerical simulation.

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is carried out to study the wakefield and stopping power for a hydrogen ion beam pulse with low drift velocity propagation in hydrogen plasmas. The plasma is assumed to be collisionless, uniform, non-magnetized, and in a steady state. Both the pulse ions and plasma particles are treated by the PIC method. The effects of the beam density on the wakefield and stopping power are then obtained and discussed. It is found that as the beam densities increase, the oscillation wakefield induced by the beam become stronger. Besides, the first oscillation wakefield behind the bunch is particularly stronger than others. Moreover, it is found that the stationary stopping power increases linearly with the increase of the beam density in the linear/semilinear region.

Experimental data are presented showing maximum carbon C6+ ion energies obtained from nm-scaled targets in the relativistic transparent regime for laser intensities between 9 × 1019 and 2 × 1021 W/cm2. When combined with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, these results show a steep linear scaling for carbon ions with the normalized laser amplitude a0 ($a_0 \propto \sqrt ( I)$). The results are in good agreement with a semi-analytic model that allows one to calculate the optimum thickness and the maximum ion energies as functions of a0 and the laser pulse duration τλ for ion acceleration in the relativistic-induced transparency regime. Following our results, ion energies exceeding 100 MeV/amu may be accessible with currently available laser systems.

This paper reports on micro-pattering of Indium thin film (donor substrate) using a higher deposition dose than previously reported. The threshold deposition dose required for micro-patterning was measured. Ejected material from the micro-patterned thin film was deposited onto an accepter substrate kept in close proximity; it clearly shows deposition of micron and submicron particles of Indium. Moreover, a clean line like structure was deposited onto the accepter substrate when the accepter substrate was moved with the same velocity as that of the donor substrate.

This paper reports on properties of a plasma formed by sequential action of two laser beams on a flat target, simulating the conditions of shock-ignited inertial confinement fusion target exposure. The experiments were performed using planar targets consisting of a massive copper (Cu) plate coated with a thin plastic (CH) layer, which was irradiated by the 1ω PALS laser beam (λ = 1.315 μm) at the energy of 250 J. The intensity of the fixed-energy laser beam was scaled by varying the focal spot radius. To imitate shock ignition conditions, the lower-intensity auxiliary 1ω beam created CH-pre-plasma which was irradiated by the main beam with a delay of 1.2 ns, thus generating a shock wave in the massive part of the target. To study the parameters of the plasma treated by the two-beam irradiation of the targets, a set of various diagnostics was applied, namely: (i) Two-channel polaro-interferometric system irradiated by the femtosecond laser (~40 fs), (ii) spectroscopic measurements in the X-ray range, (iii) two-dimensional (2D)-resolved imaging of the Kα line emission from Cu, (iv) measurements of the ion emission by means of ion collectors, and (v) measurements of the volume of craters produced in a massive target providing information on the efficiency of the laser energy transfer to the shock wave. The 2D numerical simulations have been used to support the interpretation of experimental data. The general conclusion is that the fraction of the main laser beam energy deposited into the massive copper at two-beam irradiation decreases in comparison with the case of pre-plasma. The reason is that the pre-formed and expanding plasma deteriorates the efficiency of the energy transfer from the main laser pulse to a solid part of the targets by means of the fast electrons and the wave of an electron thermal conductivity.

The present paper studies the whistler wave interaction with an electron beam propagating through magnetized plasma. A dispersion relation of whistler waves has been derived, and first-order perturbation theory has been employed to obtain the growth rate of whistlers in the presence of parallel as well as oblique electron beam. For whistler waves propagating parallel to the magnetic field, that is, parallel whistlers, only the cyclotron resonance appears with a parallel beam, while for whistler waves propagating at an angle to the magnetic field, that is, oblique whistlers interaction with parallel beam or parallel whistlers interaction with oblique beam, the Cerenkov and the cyclotron resonances both appear. The growth rate is found to increase with an increase in the transverse component of beam velocity and with an increase in the strength of magnetic field. The whistler wave frequency decreases with an increase in the beam velocity. The obliqueness of the whistler mode modifies its dispersion characteristics as well as growth rate of the instability. For purely parallel-propagating beams, it is essential for the growth of whistler mode that the wave number perpendicular to the magnetic field should not be zero. The results presented may be applied to explain the mechanisms of the whistler wave excitation in space plasma.

The modulational instability associated with propagation of an intense laser pulse through a transversely magnetized plasma is investigated in the presence of collisional effects. The source-dependent expansion method for analyzing the wave equation is employed. The dispersion relation is obtained and modulational instability and its growth rate are studied. It is shown that in the absence of collisional effects the modulational instability is restricted to the small wavenumber region and the constant magnetic field reduces the growth rate of the instability. In contrast, in the collisional plasma, there is no upper limit of wavenumber for the existence of modulational instability. In addition, in this case, the growth rate of instability increases as the collision frequency goes up.

Electron acceleration is studied during the resonant interaction of launched electron beam with the surface plasma wave (SPW) in the presence of static magnetic field. A configuration of two parallel metal sheets separated by a vacuum region supports the SPW of amplitude maximum on the two parallel interfaces and minimum in the middle. Kretschmann geometry is used to excite surface plasma mode by shinning laser on a glass prism. Dispersion relation of SPW is established in the presence of magnetic field and smaller cut-off frequencies are observed as compared with that of without magnetic field. An electron beam launched in the middle region, experiences a longitudinal ponderomotive force due to SPWs and gets accelerated to the velocity of the order of phase velocity of the surface wave. The energy gained by electron is higher in the presence of magnetic field as compared with zero magnetic field. The electron energy and trajectory are also presented for varying parameters such as amplitude of SPW and magnetic field strength. In the present scheme, electron beams can achieve maximum 550 KeV energy for the SPW amplitude ESP = 1.2 × 1011 V/m, plasma frequency ωp = 1.3 × 1016 rad/s, and cyclotron frequency ωc/ωp = 0.05.

This paper presents a scheme of terahertz (THz) radiation generation based on beating of two flat-topped laser beams by different frequencies and the same electric field amplitudes in actual plasma with spatially periodic density that electron–neutral collisions have been taken into account. Flat-topped laser beams have the exclusive features such as steep gradient in distribution of laser intensities, wider cross-section in comparison with other profiles, which make stronger ponderomotive force and lead to stronger nonlinear current and hence, THz radiation of higher field. The effects of laser and plasma parameters on THz radiation generation are investigated analytically. It is shown that by increasing the order of flatness of incident laser beams, because of their steep gradient, good enhancement in emitted THz radiation take place. It can be deduced that by increasing beating frequency, efficiency of THz generation decreases which can be compensated by manipulating in density ripple magnitudes. The intensity of the emitted radiations is found to be highly sensitive to the order of flatness. Based on the results of this paper, optimization of laser and plasma parameters can increase the efficiency of THz radiation generation strongly.

Four microseconds long Ar3+ beam with injection energy of 15 keV/u has been injected into the Digital Accelerator of the High-Energy Accelerator Research Organization. Beam production, transportation, and injection are described as well as machine properties. Results of a free running experiment under static magnetic field and longitudinal confinement and acceleration under a fast ramping magnetic field are presented in detail with a brief discussion on the beam lifetime.

The development of high-intensity lasers has opened the field of nuclear reactions initiated by laser-accelerated particles. One possible application is the production of aneutronic fusion reactions for clean fusion energy production. We propose an innovative scheme based on the use of two targets and present the first results obtained with the ELFIE facility (at the LULI Laboratory) for the proton–boron-11 (p–11B) fusion reaction. A proton beam, accelerated by the Target Normal Sheat Acceleration mechanism using a short laser pulse (12 J, 350 fs, 1.056 µm, 1019 W cm−2), is sent onto a boron target to initiate fusion reactions. The number of reactions is measured with particle diagnostics such as CR39 track-detectors, active nuclear diagnostic, Thomson Parabola, magnetic spectrometer, and time-of-flight detectors that collect the fusion products: the α-particles. Our experiment shows promising results for this scheme. In the present paper, we discuss its principle and advantages compared with another scheme that uses a single target and heating mechanisms directly with photons to initiate the same p–11B fusion reaction.

This paper presents a scheme of terahertz radiation generation based on beating of two dark hollow laser beams with different frequencies, the same electric field amplitudes, in actual plasma with spatially periodic density that electron–neutral collisions have taken into account. The main feature of considered hollow laser beams is, having the same power at different beam orders. Because of special distribution in beam intensity gradient in dark hollow laser beam, the produced terahertz radiation has special field profile. The effects of laser and plasma parameters on terahertz radiation generation are investigated analytically. It can be deduced that by increasing beating frequency, efficiency of terahertz generation decreases which can be compensated by manipulating density ripple magnitudes and dark-size adjusting parameter. The intensity of the emitted radiations is found to be highly sensitive to the beam order. Based on the results of this paper, optimization of laser and plasma parameters can increase the efficiency of terahertz radiation generation strongly.

The heating of the titanium foil in a recent femtosecond laser plasma experiment is investigated theoretically in two different ways. In the first, the energy content and thus the heating efficiency of the central volume of the foil is derived by integrating the transverse temperature profiles obtained in this experiment, using specific heats based on the average atom model. In the second approach target heating by the fast electrons, both by direct energy deposition and by resistive heating is investigated. The latter approach makes use of a specially devised electron flow model which includes a simplified quantitative treatment of multi-refluxing as a crucial component. In all, the calculated results of electron beam heating are consistent with experiment within the limitations of the modeling. Finally, a prediction for the temporal dependence of the Kα pulse from the central volume of the foil based on our electron flow model is given.

This paper investigates the non-linear coaxial (or coupled mode) propagation of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) (in particular L01 mode) and Gaussian electromagnetic (em) beams in a homogeneous plasma characterized by ponderomotive and relativistic non-linearities. The formulation is based on numerical solution of non-linear Schrödinger wave equation under Jeffreys–Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation, followed by paraxial approach applicable in the vicinity of intensity maximum of the beams. A set of coupled differential equations for spot size (beam width) and phase evolution with space corresponding to coupled mode has been derived and numerically solved to determine the propagation dynamics. Using focusing equation a critical condition describing the self-trapped (i.e., spatial soliton) mode of laser beam propagation in the plasma has been discussed; as a consequence oscillatory focusing/defocusing of the beams in coupled mode propagation have been analyzed and presented graphically. As an important outcome, significant enhancement in the intensity of LG beam is noticed when it is coupled with the Gaussian mode.

A theoretical model is developed to describe self-similar plasma expansion into vacuum with two different electron temperature distribution functions. The cold electrons are modeled with a Maxwellian distribution while the hot ones are supposed to be non-thermal obeying a kappa distribution function. It is shown that ion density and velocity profiles depend only on cold electron distribution in early stage of expansion whereas ion acceleration is mainly governed by the hot electrons at the ion front and is strongly enhanced with the proportion of kappa distributed electrons. It is also found that when the kappa index is decreasing, the critical value of temperature ratio Teh/Tec, limiting the application of quasi-neutrality, becomes larger than the $5 + \sqrt {24} \approx 9.9$ value obtained in the two-electron Maxwellian Bezzerides model [Bezzerides, B., Forslund, D. W. & Lindman, E. L. (1978). Phys. Fluids21, 2179–2185].

We develop a theoretical model for terahertz (THz) radiation generation, when an intense short laser pulse (ω1, k1) is mixed with its frequency shifted second harmonic (ω2, k2), where ω2 = 2ω1 + ωT and ωT is in the THz range in the plasma. The lasers exert a ponderomotive force on the electrons and drive density perturbations at (2ω1, 2k1) and (ω2 − ω1, k2 − k1). These density perturbations couple with the oscillatory velocities of the electron due to the lasers and produce a nonlinear current at (ω2 − 2ω1, k2 − 2k1). This current acts as an antenna to produce the THz radiation. The THz power depends upon the square of plasma density and $I_1^2 {I_2}$, where I1 and I2 are the intensities of fundamental and second harmonic laser. The radiation is mainly along the forward direction. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are used to study the near-field radiation properties.