Multibeam laser-plasma interaction at the Gekko XII laser facility in conditions relevant for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Laser–plasma interaction and hot electrons have been characterized in detail in laser irradiation conditions relevant for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion.The experiment was carried out at the Gekko XII laser facility in multibeam planar target geometry at an intensity of approximately 3×10^(15)W/cm^(2).Experimental data suggest that high-energy electrons,with temperatures of 20–50 keV and conversion efficiencies ofη<1%,were mainly produced by the damping of electron plasma waves driven by two-plasmon decay(TPD).Stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)is observed in a near-threshold growth regime,producing a reflectivity of approximately 0.01%,and is well described by an analytical model accounting for the convective growth in independent speckles.The experiment reveals that both TPD and SRS are collectively driven by multiple beams,resulting in a more vigorous growth than that driven by single-beam laser intensity.

Observation and modelling of stimulated Raman scattering driven by an optically smoothed laser beam in experimental conditions relevant for shock ignition

We report results and modelling of an experiment performed at the Target Area West Vulcan laser facility,aimed at investigating laser±plasma interaction in conditions that are of interest for the shock ignition scheme in inertial confinement fusion(ICF),that is,laser intensity higher than 10^(16) W/cm^(2) impinging on a hot(T>1 keV),inhomogeneous and long scalelength pre-formed plasma.Measurements show a significant stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)backscattering(;%-20%of laser energy)driven at low plasma densities and no signatures of two-plasmon decay(TPD)/SRS driven at the quarter critical density region.Results are satisfactorily reproduced by an analytical model accounting for the convective SRS growth in independent laser speckles,in conditions where the reflectivity is dominated by the contribution from the most intense speckles,where SRS becomes saturated.Analytical and kinetic simulations well reproduce the onset of SRS at low plasma densities in a regime strongly affected by non-linear Landau damping and by filamentation of the most intense laser speckles.The absence of TPD/SRS at higher densities is explained by pump depletion and plasma smoothing driven by filamentation.The prevalence of laser coupling in the low-density profile justifies the low temperature measured for hot electrons(7-12 keV),which is well reproduced by numerical simulations.

Coexisting charge density wave and ferromagnetic instabilities in monolayer InSe

Recently fabricated InSe monolayers exhibit remarkable characteristics that indicate the potential of this material to host a number of many-body phenomena.In this work,we systematically describe collective electronic effects in hole-doped InSe monolayers using advanced many-body techniques.To this end,we derive a realistic electronic-structure model from first principles that takes into account the most important characteristics of this material,including a flat band with prominent van Hove singularities in the electronic spectrum,strong electron–phonon coupling,and weakly screened long-ranged Coulomb interactions.We calculate the temperature-dependent phase diagram as a function of band filling and observe that this system is in a regime with coexisting charge density wave and ferromagnetic instabilities that are driven by strong electronic Coulomb correlations.This regime can be achieved at realistic doping levels and high enough temperatures,and can be verified experimentally.We find that the electron–phonon interaction does not play a crucial role in these effects,effectively suppressing the local Coulomb interaction without changing the qualitative physical picture.

Common microscopic origin of the phase transitions in Ta_(2)NiS_(5) and the excitonic insulator candidate Ta_(2)NiSe_(5)

The structural phase transition in Ta-NiSes has been envisioned as driven by the formation of an excitonic insulating phase.However,the role of structural and electronic instabilities on crystal symmetry breaking has yet to be disentangled.Meanwhile,the phase transition in its complementary material Ta_(2)NiS_(5)does not show any experimental hints of an excitonic insulating phase.We present a microscopic investigation of the electronic and phononic effects involved in the structural phase transition in Ta_(2)NiSe_(5)and Ta-Niss using extensive first-principles calculations.In both materials the crystal symmetries are broken by phonon instabilities,which in tum lead to changes in the electronic bandstructure also observed in the experiment.A total energy landscape analysis shows no tendency towards a purely electronic instability and we find that a sizeable lattice distortion is needed to open a bandgap.We conclude that an excitonic instability is not needed to explain the phase transition in both Ta_(2)NiSe_(5)and Ta_(2)NiS_(5).