Guiding of relativistic electron beams in solid targets by resistively controlled magnetic fields

Enhanced relativistic-electron beam collimation using two consecutive laser pulses

The double laser pulse approach to relativistic electron beam (REB) collimation in solid targets has been investigated at the LULI-ELFIE facility. In this scheme two collinear laser pulses are focused onto a solid target with a given intensity ratio and time delay to generate REBs. The magnetic field generated by the first laser-driven REB is used to guide the REB generated by a second delayed laser pulse. We show how electron beam collimation can be controlled by properly adjusting the ratio of focus size and the delay time between the two pulses. We found that the maximum of electron beam collimation is clearly dependent on the laser focal spot size ratio and related to the magnetic field dynamics. Cu-K_α and CTR imaging diagnostics were implemented to evaluate the collimation effects on the respectively low energy (≤100 keV) and high energy (≥MeV) components of the REB.

Time-resolved measurements of fast electron recirculation for relativistically intense femtosecond scale laser-plasma interactions

A key issue in realising the development of a number of applications of high-intensity lasers is the dynamics of the fast electrons produced and how to diagnose them. We report on measurements of fast electron transport in aluminium targets in the ultra-intense, short-pulse (<50 fs) regime using a high resolution temporally and spatially resolved optical probe. The measurements show a rapidly (≈0.5c) expanding region of Ohmic heating at the rear of the target, driven by lateral transport of the fast electron population inside the target. Simulations demonstrate that a broad angular distribution of fast electrons on the order of 60° is required, in conjunction with extensive recirculation of the electron population, in order to drive such lateral transport. These results provide fundamental new insight into fast electron dynamics driven by ultra-short laser pulses, which is an important regime for the development of laser-based radiation and particle sources.

Guiding of relativistic electron beams in dense matter by laser-driven magnetostatic fields

Intense lasers interacting with dense targets accelerate relativistic electron beams, which transport part of the laser energy into the target depth. However, the overall laser-to-target energy coupling efficiency is impaired by the large divergence of the electron beam, intrinsic to the laser-plasma interaction. Here we demonstrate that an efficient guiding of MeV electrons with about 30 MA current in solid matter is obtained by imposing a laser-driven longitudinal magnetostatic field of 600 T. In the magnetized conditions the transported energy density and the peak background electron temperature at the 60-μm-thick target's rear surface rise by about a factor of five, as unfolded from benchmarked simulations. Such an improvement of energy-density flux through dense matter paves the ground for advances in laser-driven intense sources of energetic particles and radiation, driving matter to extreme temperatures, reaching states relevant for planetary or stellar science as yet inaccessible at the laboratory scale and achieving high-gain laser-driven thermonuclear fusion.

Collimated Propagation of Fast Electron Beams Accelerated by High-Contrast Laser Pulses in Highly Resistive Shocked Carbon

Collimated transport of ultrahigh intensity electron current was observed in cold and in laser-shocked vitreous carbon, in agreement with simulation predictions. The fast electron beams were created by coupling high-intensity and high-contrast laser pulses onto copper-coated cones drilled into the carbon samples. The guiding mechanism-observed only for times before the shock breakout at the inner cone tip-is due to self-generated resistive magnetic fields of ∼0.5-1  kT arising from the intense currents of fast electrons in vitreous carbon, by virtue of its specific high resistivity over the range of explored background temperatures. The spatial distribution of the electron beams, injected through the samples at different stages of compression, was characterized by side-on imaging of hard x-ray fluorescence.

Preparation of size controllable porous polymethylmethacrylate template and Cu micro/nanowire arrays

Preparation of a size controllable porous polymethylmethacrylate template and Cu micro/nanowire arrays by an iterative melt co-drawing and bundling technique.

Laboratory measurements of resistivity in warm dense plasmas relevant to the microphysics of brown dwarfs

Since the observation of the first brown dwarf in 1995, numerous studies have led to a better understanding of the structures of these objects. Here we present a method for studying material resistivity in warm dense plasmas in the laboratory, which we relate to the microphysics of brown dwarfs through viscosity and electron collisions. Here we use X-ray polarimetry to determine the resistivity of a sulphur-doped plastic target heated to Brown Dwarf conditions by an ultra-intense laser. The resistivity is determined by matching the plasma physics model to the atomic physics calculations of the measured large, positive, polarization. The inferred resistivity is larger than predicted using standard resistivity models, suggesting that these commonly used models will not adequately describe the resistivity of warm dense plasma related to the viscosity of brown dwarfs.

Fast-electron refluxing effects on anisotropic hard-x-ray emission from intense laser-plasma interactions

Fast-electron generation and dynamics, including electron refluxing, is at the core of understanding high-intensity laser-plasma interactions. This field is itself of strong relevance to fast ignition fusion and the development of new short-pulse, intense, x-ray, γ-ray, and particle sources. In this paper, we describe experiments that explicitly link fast-electron refluxing and anisotropy in hard-x-ray emission. We find the anisotropy in x-ray emission to be strongly correlated to the suppression of refluxing. In contrast to some previous work, the peak of emission is directly along the rear normal to the target rather than along either the incident laser direction or the specular reflection direction.

Transient changes in electric fields induced by interaction of ultraintense laser pulses with insulator and metal foils: Sustainable fields spanning several millimeters

The temporal evolutions of electromagnetic fields generated by the interaction between ultraintense lasers (1.3×10(18) and 8.2×10(18)W/cm(2)) and solid targets at a distance of several millimeters from the laser-irradiated region have been investigated by electron deflectometry. For three types of foil targets (insulating foil, conductive foil, and insulating foil onto which a metal disk was deposited), transient changes in the fields were observed. We found that the direction, strength, and temporal evolution of the generated fields differ markedly for these three types of targets. The results provide an insight for studying the emission dynamics of laser-accelerated fast electrons.

Tunable mega-ampere electron current propagation in solids by dynamic control of lattice melt

The influence of lattice-melt-induced resistivity gradients on the transport of mega-ampere currents of fast electrons in solids is investigated numerically and experimentally using laser-accelerated protons to induce isochoric heating. Tailoring the heating profile enables the resistive magnetic fields which strongly influence the current propagation to be manipulated. This tunable laser-driven process enables important fast electron beam properties, including the beam divergence, profile, and symmetry to be actively tailored, and without recourse to complex target manufacture.

Electron-ion equilibration in ultrafast heated graphite

We have employed fast electrons produced by intense laser illumination to isochorically heat thermal electrons in solid density carbon to temperatures of ∼10,000  K. Using time-resolved x-ray diffraction, the temperature evolution of the lattice ions is obtained through the Debye-Waller effect, and this directly relates to the electron-ion equilibration rate. This is shown to be considerably lower than predicted from ideal plasma models. We attribute this to strong ion coupling screening the electron-ion interaction.

Annular fast electron transport in silicon arising from low-temperature resistivity

Fast electron transport in Si, driven by ultraintense laser pulses, is investigated experimentally and via 3D hybrid particle-in-cell simulations. A transition from a Gaussian-like to an annular fast electron beam profile is demonstrated and explained by resistively generated magnetic fields. The results highlight the potential to completely transform the beam transport pattern by tailoring the resistivity-temperature profile at temperatures as low as a few eV.

Dynamics of self-generated, large amplitude magnetic fields following high-intensity laser matter interaction

The dynamics of magnetic fields with an amplitude of several tens of megagauss, generated at both sides of a solid target irradiated with a high-intensity (~10(19) W/cm(2)) picosecond laser pulse, has been spatially and temporally resolved using a proton imaging technique. The amplitude of the magnetic fields is sufficiently large to have a constraining effect on the radial expansion of the plasma sheath at the target surfaces. These results, supported by numerical simulations and simple analytical modeling, may have implications for ion acceleration driven by the plasma sheath at the rear side of the target as well as for the laboratory study of self-collimated high-energy plasma jets.

Focusing of relativistic electrons in dense plasma using a resistivity-gradient-generated magnetic switchyard

A method for producing a self-generated magnetic focussing structure for a beam of laser-generated relativistic electrons using a complex array of resistivity gradients is proposed and demonstrated using numerical simulations. The array of resistivity gradients is created by using a target consisting of alternating layers of different Z material. This new scheme is capable of effectively focussing the fast electrons even when the source is highly divergent. The application of this technique to cone-guided fast ignition inertial confinement fusion is considered, and it is shown that it may be possible to deposit over 25% of the fast electron energy into a hot spot even when the fast electron divergence angle is very large (e.g., 70° half-angle).

Dynamic control over mega-ampere electron currents in metals using ionization-driven resistive magnetic fields

The possibility of dynamically shaping mega-ampere electron currents generated in solids by ultraintense laser pulses in various conductor materials has been investigated. By tuning the target ionization dynamics, which depends both on the target material properties and on the input electron beam characteristics, we can control the growth of resistive magnetic fields that feedback on the current transport. As a result, collimation, hollowing, or filamentation of the electron beam can all be obtained. These results are beneficial for applications such as the production of secondary particles and radiation sources and fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion.

Magnetically guided fast electrons in cylindrically compressed matter

Fast electrons produced by a 10 ps, 160 J laser pulse through laser-compressed plastic cylinders are studied experimentally and numerically in the context of fast ignition. K(α)-emission images reveal a collimated or scattered electron beam depending on the initial density and the compression timing. A numerical transport model shows that implosion-driven electrical resistivity gradients induce strong magnetic fields able to guide the electrons. The good agreement with measured beam sizes provides the first experimental evidence for fast-electron magnetic collimation in laser-compressed matter.

Effect of the plasma-generated magnetic field on relativistic electron transport

In the fast-ignition scheme, relativistic electrons transport energy from the laser deposition zone to the dense part of the target where the fusion reactions can be ignited. The magnetic fields and electron collisions play an important role in the collimation or defocusing of this electron beam. Detailed description of these effects requires large-scale kinetic calculations and is limited to short time intervals. In this paper, a reduced kinetic model of fast electron transport coupled to the radiation hydrodynamic code is presented. It opens the possibility to carry on hybrid simulations in a time scale of tens of picoseconds or more. It is shown with this code that plasma-generated magnetic fields induced by noncollinear temperature and density gradients may strongly modify electron transport in a time scale of a few picoseconds. These fields tend to defocus the electron beam, reducing the coupling efficiency to the target. This effect, that was not seen before in shorter time simulations, has to be accounted for in any ignition design using electrons as a driver.

Effect of lattice structure on energetic electron transport in solids irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses

The effect of lattice structure on the transport of energetic (MeV) electrons in solids irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses is investigated using various allotropes of carbon. We observe smooth electron transport in diamond, whereas beam filamentation is observed with less ordered forms of carbon. The highly ordered lattice structure of diamond is shown to result in a transient state of warm dense carbon with metalliclike conductivity, at temperatures of the order of 1-100 eV, leading to suppression of electron beam filamentation.

Magnetic-field generation and electron-collimation analysis for propagating fast electron beams in overdense plasmas

An analytical fluid model is proposed for artificially collimating fast electron beams produced in the interaction of ultraintense laser pulses with specially engineered low-density-core-high-density-cladding structure targets. Since this theory clearly predicts the characteristics of the spontaneously generated magnetic field and its dependence on the plasma parameters of the targets transporting fast electrons, it is of substantial relevance to the target design for fast ignition. The theory also reveals that the rapid changing of the flow velocity of the background electrons in a transverse direction (perpendicular to the flow velocity) caused by the density jump dominates the generation of a spontaneous interface magnetic field for these kinds of targets. It is found that the spontaneously generated magnetic field reaches as high as 100 MG, which is large enough to collimate fast electron transport in overdense plasmas. This theory is also supported by numerical simulations performed using a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code. It is found that the simulation results agree well with the theoretical analysis.

Laser-driven fast electron collimation in targets with resistivity boundary

We demonstrate experimentally that the relativistic electron flow in a dense plasma can be efficiently confined and guided in targets exhibiting a high-resistivity-core-low-resistivity-cladding structure analogous to optical waveguides. The relativistic electron beam is shown to be confined to an area of the order of the core diameter (50 μm), which has the potential to substantially enhance the coupling efficiency of electrons to the compressed fusion fuel in the Fast Ignitor fusion in full-scale fusion experiments.