Related papers: Optimal laser pulse energy partitioning for air io…
We investigate ablation experiments performed by laser-plasma-filament guided electrical discharges at high-voltages of up to 145 kV. The guiding was accomplished via fs-laser-generated plasma filaments across a gap of 201 mm of air onto…
An experimental study of laser pulse duration influence on the terahertz emission during single-color filamentation is carried out. It is shown that for each terahertz frequency there is an optimal laser pulse duration providing maximal…
It is shown that the energy of protons accelerated in laser-matter interaction experiments may be significantly increased through the process of splitting the incoming laser pulse into multiple interaction stages of equal intensity. From a…
Manipulating at will the propagation dynamics of high power laser pulses is a long-standing dream whose accomplishment would lead to the control of a plethora of fascinating physical phenomena emerging from laser-matter interaction. The…
The fast ignition paradigm for inertial fusion offers increased gain and tolerance of asymmetry by compressing fuel at low entropy and then quickly igniting a small region. Because this hotspot rapidly disassembles, the ions must be heated…
Using a kilojoule class laser, we demonstrate for the first time that high-contrast picosecond pulses are advantageous for ion acceleration. We show that a laser pulse with optimum duration and a large focal spot accelerates electrons…
Direct laser acceleration (DLA) offers a compact source of high-charge, energetic electrons for generating secondary radiation or neutrons. While DLA in high-density plasma optimizes the energy transfer from a laser pulse to electrons, it…
Highly polarized, multi-kiloampere-current electron bunches from compact laser-plasma accelerators are desired for numerous applications. Current proposals to produce these beams suffer from intrinsic limitations to the reproducibility,…
High power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) plasmas are pulsed discharges where the plasma composition as well as the fluxes and energies of ions are changing during the pulse. The time resolved energy distribution for Ar$^{1+}$ ions was…
We use Bayesian optimization in combination with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to determine the optimal laser and plasma parameters that, for a given laser pulse energy, maximize the cut-off energy of an electron beam…
Relativistic self-focusing and channeling of intense laser pulses have been studied in underdense plasma using 2D PIC simulations, for different laser powers and plasma densities. Analytical solutions for the stationary evacuated channels…
The femtosecond laser filamentation is the result of the dynamic interplay between plasma self-focusing and defocusing generated by the multiphoton/tunnel ionization of air molecules. This equilibrium allows the filament to stably propagate…
Effects of ionization injection in low and high Z gas mixtures for the laser wake field acceleration of electrons are analyzed with the use of balance equations and particle-in-cell simulations via test probe particle trajectories in…
We propose a new approach to high-intensity laser-driven electron acceleration in a plasma. Here, we demonstrate that a plasma wave generated by a stimulated forward-scattering of an incident laser pulse can be in a longest acceleration…
We study the possibility of efficient self-compression of femtosecond laser pulses in nonlinear media with anomalous dispersion of group velocity during the self-focusing of wave packets with a power several times greater than the critical…
This dissertation explores the interaction between high-intensity lasers and plasmas to accelerate electrons and produce radiation via experimental and computational efforts. The laser pulses used in this dissertation have ultrashort…
We present the development of a high power fibre laser system to investigate its suitability for use in a transverse electron beam profile monitor i.e. a laserwire. A system capable of producing individual pulses up to $165.8 \pm 0.4 \mu$J…
Creating extended, highly homogeneous plasma columns like that required by plasma wakefield accelerators can be a challenge. We study the propagation of ultra-short, TW power ionizing laser pulses in a 10-meter-long rubidium vapor and the…
We demonstrate efficient diffraction of intense ultrashort laser pulses using optical-field-ionization-induced plasma-neutral gratings formed by spatially structured ionization of a neutral molecular gas in the interference field of two…
We demonstrate that femtosecond filaments can set up an extended and robust thermal waveguide structure in air with a lifetime of several milliseconds, making possible the very long range guiding and distant projection of high energy laser…