Related papers: Fusion ignition via a magnetically-assisted fast i…
In the interaction of high-power laser beams with solid density plasma there are a number of mechanisms that generate strong magnetic fields. Such fields subsequently inhibit or redirect electron flows, but can themselves be advected by…
Rapid recent development in laser technology and methods learned from relativistic heavy ion physics led to new possibilities for fusion. Using a Hydrogen rich UDMA-TEGDMA polymer fusion target, laser irradiation ionizes the target. If we…
Magnetic fields spontaneously grow at unstable interfaces around hot-spot asymmetries during inertial confinement fusion implosions. Although difficult to measure, theoretical considerations and numerical simulations predict field strengths…
Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on fully kinetic particle…
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will contain the world's most powerful laser. NIF requires more than 1500 precisely timed trigger pulses to control the timing of laser and diagnostic equipment. The Integrated Timing System applies new…
The ability of an intense laser pulse to propagate in a classically over-critical plasma through the phenomenon of relativistic transparency is shown to facilitate the generation of strong plasma magnetic fields. Particle-in-cell…
Fast magnetic reconnection powers explosive events throughout the universe, from gamma-ray bursts to solar flares. Despite its importance, the onset of astrophysical fast reconnection is the subject of intense debate and remains an open…
A new, efficient, algorithmic approach to create illumination configurations for laser driven high energy density physics experiments is proposed. The method is applied to a polar direct drive solid target experiment at the National…
Longitudinal ion acceleration from high-intensity (I ~ 10^20 Wcm^-2) laser interactions with helium gas jet targets (n_e ~ 0.04 n_c) have been observed. The ion beam has a maximum energy for He^2+ of approximately 40 MeV and was directional…
This work presents a more detailed analysis of the process of magnetic reconnection as promising ion beam accelerator mechanism with possible applications in laboratory plasmas and, more importantly, in the plasma propulsion field. In a…
In this work, we investigate the application of the plasma shutters for heavy ion acceleration driven by a high-intensity laser pulse. We use particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic simulations. The laser pulse, transmitted through the…
All-optical controlled injection and acceleration of electrons in a laser wakefield has recently been achieved (Faure et al, Nature v. 444 p. 737, 2006). Injection was made using a second counterpropagating laser pulse with the same…
Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have demonstrated ignition for the first time in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiment, a major milestone allowing the possibility of high energy gain through burn…
A semi-analytic model for plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion is presented. Compressions of a magnetized plasma target by a spherically imploding plasma liner are calculated in one dimension (1D), accounting for compressible…
The declared aim of Marvel Fusion is the realization of a reactor based on the aneutronic fusion of proton and boron-11 nuclei in the near future, making use of latest-day laser technology and nano-structured materials. The aim of the…
Intense laser acceleration of ions is inherently difficult due to the velocity mismatch between laser pulses moving at the speed of light and slowly moving massive ions. Instead of directly accelerating the ions, current approaches rely on…
We investigate by particle-in-cell simulations in two and three dimensions the laser-plasma interaction and the proton acceleration in multilayer targets where a low density "near-critical" layer of a few micron thickness is added on the…
We introduce the first approach to volumetrically generate relativistically thermal plasma at gas-jet--accessible density. Using fully kinetic simulations and theory, we demonstrate that two stages of direct laser acceleration driven by two…
Ion acceleration driven by superintense laser pulses is attracting an impressive and steadily increasing effort. Motivations can be found in the potential for a number of foreseen applications and in the perspective to investigate novel…
Driving the nuclear fusion reaction p+11B -> 3 alpha + 8.7 MeV in laboratory conditions, by interaction between high-power laser pulses and matter, has become a popular field of research, due to numerous applications that it can potentially…