Non-Maxwellian electron distributions resulting from direct laser acceleration in near-critical plasmas

The irradiation of few-nm-thick targets by a finite-contrast high-intensity short-pulse laser results in a strong pre-expansion of these targets at the arrival time of the main pulse.The targets decompress to near and lower than critical densities with plasmas extending over few micrometers,i.e.multiple wavelengths.The interaction of the main pulse with such a highly localized but inhomogeneous target leads to the generation of a short channel and further self-focusing of the laser beam.Experiments at the Glass Hybrid OPCPA Scaled Test-bed(GHOST)laser system at University of Texas,Austin using such targets measured non-Maxwellian,peaked electron distribution with large bunch charge and high electron density in the laser propagation direction.These results are reproduced in 2D PIC simulations using the EPOCH code,identifying direct laser acceleration(DLA)[1]as the responsible mechanism.This is the first time that DLA has been observed to produce peaked spectra as opposed to broad,Maxwellian spectra observed in earlier experiments[2].This high-density electrons have potential applications as injector beams for a further wakefield acceleration stage as well as for pump-probe applications.

Experiments and simulations of isochorically heated warm dense carbon foam at the Texas Petawatt Laser

An experimental and simulation study of warm dense carbon foams at ambient density(ne∼10^(21) cm^(−3))is presented.This study of isochorically heated foams is motivated by their potential application in carbon-atmosphere white-dwarf envelopes,where there are modeling uncertainties due to the equation of state.The foams are heated on an approximately picosecond time scale with a laser-accelerated proton beam.The cooling and expansion of the heated foams can be modeled with appropriately initialized radiation-hydrodynamics codes;xRAGE code is used in this work.The primary experimental diagnostic is the streaked optical pyrometer,which images a narrow band of radiation from the rear surface of the heated material.Presented are xRAGE modeling results for both solid aluminum targets and carbonized resorcinol-formaldehyde foam targets,showing that the foam appears to cool slowly on the pyrometer because of partial transparency.So that simulations of cooling foam are processed properly,it is necessary to account for finite optical depth in the photosphere calculation,and the methods for performing that calculation are presented in depth.