Study on the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with nanometre-sized hydrogen clusters

The interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with hydrogen clusters has been experimentally studied. The hydrogen clusters were produced from expansion of high-pressure hydrogen gas （backed up to 8×10^6Pa） into vacuum through a conical nozzle cryogenically cooled by liquid nitrogen. The average size of hydrogen clusters was estimated by Rayleigh scattering measurement and the maximum proton energy of up to 4.2keV has been obtained from the Coulomb explosion of hydrogen clusters under 2 × 10^16W/cm^2 laser irradiation. Dependence of the maximum proton energy on cluster size and laser intensity was investigated, indicating the correlation between the laser intensity and the cluster size. The maximum proton energy is found to be directly proportional to the laser intensity, which is consistent with the theoretical prediction.

Quantum Path Selection and Isolated-Attosecond-Pulse Generation of H2+ with an Intense Laser Pulse and a Static Field

We theoretically investigate the high-order-harmonic generation from the H2^＋ molecular ion exposed to the combi- nation of an intense trapezoidal laser and a static field. The results show that the harmonic spectrum is obviously extended and the short quantum path is selected to contribute to the spectrum, because the corresponding long path is seriously suppressed. Then the combined Coulomb and laser field potentials and the time-dependent electron wave packet distributions are applied to illustrate the physical mechanism of high-order harmonic gen- eration. Finally, by adjusting the intensity of the static field and superposing a properly selected range of the HHG spectrum, a 90-as isolated attosecond pulse is straightforwardly obtained.

Dynamics simulation on the interaction of intense laser pulses with atomic clusters

Under classical particle dynamics, the interaction process between intense femtosecond laser pulses and icosahedral noble-gas atomic clusters was studied. Our calculated results show that ionization proceeds mainly through tunnel ionization in the combined field from ions, electrons and laser, rather than the electron-impact ionization. With increasing cluster size, the average and maximum kinetic energy of the product ion increases. According to our calculation, the expansion process of the clusters after laser irradiation is dominated by Coulomb explosion and the expansion scale increases with increasing cluster size. The dependence of average kinetic energy and average charge state of the product ions on laser wavelength is also presented and discussed. The dependence of average kinetic energy on the number of atoms inside the cluster was studied and compared with the experimental data. Our results agree with the experimental results reasonably well.

Nonlinear propagation of an intense Laguerre-Gaussian laser pulse in a plasma channel

The nonlinear propagation of an intense Laguerre-Gaussian(LG)laser pulse in a parabolic preformed plasma channel is analyzed by means of the variational method.The evolution equation of the spot size is derived including the effects of relativistic self-focusing,preformed channel focusing,and ponderomotive self-channeling.The parametric conditions of the LG laser pulse and plasma channel for propagating with constant spot size,periodically focusing and defocusing oscillation,catastrophic focusing,and solitary waves are obtained.Compared with the laser pulse with fundamental Gaussian(FG)mode,it is found that the effect of vacuum diffraction is reduced by half and the effects of relativistic and wakefield focusing are decreased by a quarter due to the hollow transverse intensity profile of the LG laser pulse,while the effect of channel focusing is the same order of magnitude with that of the FG laser pulse.Thus,the matched condition for the intense LG laser pulse with constant spot size is released obviously,while the parameters of the laser and plasma for the existence of solitary waves nearly coincide with those of the FG laser pulse.

Stimulated Emission of Gamma Photon from Ultrashort Pulse Intense Laser—Solid—Target Interaction

The efficient production of energetic γ photons is a significant physical process in the relativistic ultrashortpulse laser-plasma inducing photonuclear action. Based on the interaction of laser-solid-target, an analytical theory onstimulated γ photon emission from a hot electron firing the target-nucleus is developed by a relativistic full quantummethod. The emitting power or probability of γ photon in arbitrary space direction can be calculated for laser irradiatingsolid-target normally. It is valid only if the scatter-centre is immovable or its motion can be neglected compared withthat of the scattered electrons.

Coulomb expansion of deuterated methane clusters irradiated by an ultrashort intense laser pulse

The simulations of three-dimensional particle dynamics show that when irradiated by an ultrashort intense laser pulse, the deuterated methane cluster expands and the majority of deuterons overrun the more slowly expanding carbon ions, resulting in the creation of two separated subelusters. The enhanced deuteron kinetic energy and a narrow peak around the energy maximum in the deuteron energy distribution make a considerable contribution to the efficiency of nuclear fusion compared with the ease of homonuelear deuterium clusters. With the intense laser irradiation, the nuclear fusion yield increases with the increase of the cluster size, so that deuterated heteronuelear clusters with larger sizes are required to achieve a greater neutron yield.

Self-modulation and anomalous collective scattering of laser produced intense ion beam in plasmas

The collective interaction between intense ion beams and plasmas is studied by simulations and experiments,where an intense proton beam produced by a short pulse laser is injected into a pre-ionized gas.It is found that,depending on its current density,collective effects can significantly alter the propagated ion beam and the stopping power.The quantitative agreement that is found between theories and experiments constitutes the first validation of the collective interaction theory.The effects in the interaction between intense ion beams and background gas plasmas are of importance for the design of laser fusion reactors as well as for beam physics.

Gravitational Perturbation of Hydrogen Spectrum in the Space Curved by Intense Laser Pulses

The energy level shifts of hydrogen in the space curved by the intense short laser pulses are studied. It shows that for present power level of laser pulses, the magnitude of the energy level shifts in a highly excited hydrogen atom is detectable.

Propagation of Intense Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Deuterated Methane and Deuterium Cluster Jets

Propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses （60 fs, 800 nm, 120 m J, 6 × 10^17 W/cm^2 in vacuum） in supersonic （CD4）N and （D2）N cluster jets at different backing pressures was studied. Pump-probe interferometry is employed to investigate the propagation of laser beams in dense cluster jets by examining the electron density distribution of plasma chan- nels. It was found that propagation effects, including ionization-induced defocusing and laser attenuation of incident pulses, are very different in the （CD4）N and （D2）N cluster jets. Different ionization states of CD4 and D2 molecules were observed by analyzing the transverse electron density profiles of the plasma channels and should be considered as a major reason for the differences in the propagation effects. Numerical simulations of the nonlinear propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in （CD4）N and （D2）N cluster jets were performed, and the results indicated a good reproduction of the experimental data.

Modulation of ionization on laser frequency in ultra-short pulse intense laser-gas-target

Based on the dispersion relation of intense laser pulse propagating in gradually ionized plasma, this paper discusses the frequency modulation induced by ionization of an ultra-short intense laser pulse interacting with a gas target. The relationship between the frequency modulation and the ionization rate, the plasmas frequency variation, and the polarization of atoms （ions） is analysed. The numerical results indicate that, at high frequency, the polarization of atoms （ions） plays a more important role than plasma frequency variation in modulating the laser frequency, and the laser frequency variation is different at different positions of the laser pulse.

Ultrafast photoionization of ions and molecules by orthogonally polarized intense laser pulses: Effects of the time delay

We present the photoelectron momentum distributions(PMDs) and the photoelectron angular distributions(PADs) of He+ ions, aligned H2+ molecules and N2 molecules by intense orthogonally polarized laser pulses. Simulations are performed by numerically solving the corresponding two-dimensional time-dependent Schr?dinger equations(TDSEs) within the single-electron approximation frame. Photoelectron momentum distributions and photoelectron angular distributions present different patterns with the time delays Td, illustrating the dependences of the PMDs and PADs on the time delays by orthogonally polarized laser pulses. The evolution of the electron wavepackets can be employed to describe the intensity of the PADs from the TDSE simulations for N2 molecules.

Effect of laser spot size on fusion neutron yield in laser-deuterium cluster interactions

The effect of the laser spot size on the neutron yield of table-top nuclear fusion from explosions of a femtosecond intense laser pulse heated deuterium clusters is investigated by using a simplified model, in which the cluster size distribution and the energy attenuation of the laser as it propagates through the cluster jet are taken into account. It has been found that there exists a proper laser spot size for the maximum fusion neutron yield for a given laser pulse and a specific deuterium gas cluster jet. The proper spot size, which is dependent on the laser parameters and the cluster jet parameters, has been calculated and compared with the available experimental data. A reasonable agreement between the calculated results and the published experimental results is found.

Forward acceleration and generation of femtosecond megaelectronvolt electron beams by an ultrafast intense laser pulse

We present a new mechanism of energy gain of electrons accelerated by a laser pulse. It is shown that when the intensity of an Tiltrafast intense laser pulse decreases rapidly along the direction of propagation, electrons leaving the pulse experience an action of ponderomotive deceleration at the descending part of a lower-intensity laser field than acceleration at the ascending part of a high-intensity field, thus gain net energy from the pulse and move directly forward. By means of such a mechanism, a megaelectronvolt electron beam with a bunch length shorter than 100 fs could be realized with an ultrafast (≤30 fs), intense (≥1019 W/cm2) laser pulse.

Effects of Higher-Order Relativistic Nonlinearity and Wakefield During a Moderately Intense Laser Pulse Propagation in a Plasma Channel

Using a variational approach,the propagation of a moderately intense laser pulse in a parabolic preformed plasma channel is investigated.The effects of higher-order relativistic nonlinearity (HRN) and wakefield are included.The effect of HRN serves as an additional defocusing mechanism and has the same order of magnitude in the spot size as that of the transverse wakefield (TWF).The effect of longitudinal wakefield is much larger than those of HRN and TWF for an intense laser pulse with the pulse length equaling the plasma wavelength.The catastrophic focusing of the laser spot size would be prevented in the present of HRN and then it varies with periodic focusing oscillations.

Strong terahertz bursts driven by intense fem to second laser pulses

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China,Prof.Li Yutong(李玉同)at the Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,in collaboration with Prof.Zhang Jie(张杰)and Sheng Zhengming(盛政明)at Shanghai Jiao Tong University,demonstrated the generation of high-energy,coherent terahertz(THz)radiation from ultra in-