Related papers: Relativistic electron streaming instabilities modu…
The mechanisms that generate "seed" magnetic fields in our Universe and that amplify them throughout cosmic time remain poorly understood. By means of fully-kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of turbulent, initially unmagnetized plasmas,…
The growth rate of long wavelength kinetic instabilities arising due to the interaction of a collimated beam of relativistic particles and a cold unmagnetized plasma are calculated in the ultra relativistic limit. For sufficiently…
Laser-solid interaction can lead to the acceleration of protons to tens of MeV. Here, we show that a strong enhancement of this acceleration can be achieved by splitting the laser pulse to two parts of equal energy and opposite incidence…
This paper describes the first experimental demonstration of the guiding of a relativistic electron beam in a solid target using two co-linear, relativistically intense, picosecond laser pulses. The first pulse creates a magnetic field…
Synchrotron radio emission from non-relativistic jets powered by massive protostars has been reported, indicating the presence of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields of strength ~0.3-5 mG. We study diffusive shock acceleration and…
We report on new findings in a laser driven enhanced electron beam generation in the multi MeV energy range at moderate relativistic laser intensities and their applications. In our experiment, an intense sub-picosecond laser pulse…
We study numerically the mechanisms of proton acceleration in gas-foil targets driven by an ultraintense femtosecond laser pulse. The target consists of a near-critical-density hydrogen gas layer of a few tens of microns attached to a solid…
Particle acceleration using ultraintense, ultrashort laser pulses is one of the most attractive topics in relativistic laser-plasma research. We report proton/ion acceleration in the intensity range of 5x1019 W/cm2 to 3.3x1020 W/cm2 by…
We present the particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results of the interaction of a high-energy lepton plasma flow with background electron-proton plasma and focus on the acceleration processes of the protons. It is found that the acceleration…
We use a relativistic ionization front to provide various initial transverse wakefield amplitudes for the self-modulation of a long proton bunch in plasma. We show experimentally that, with sufficient initial amplitude ($\ge(4.1\pm0.4)$…
Relativistic electrons colliding with intense counterpropagating laser pulses are expected to lose energy through radiation reaction. However, we reveal a counterintuitive regime where reflected leptons (including incident electrons,…
We present the results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulations of the Weibel instability in two counter-streaming hot relativistic plasma flows, e.g. flows of electron-proton plasma having rest-mass density $\rho \sim 10^{-4}\;…
Plasma-based accelerators have achieved tremendous progress in the past few decades, thanks to the advances of high power lasers and the availability of high-energy and relativistic particle beams. However, the electrons (or positrons)…
Many competing linear instabilities are likely to occur in astrophysical settings, and it is important to assess which one grows faster for a given situation. An analytical model including the main beam plasma instabilities is developed.…
Quasi-monoenergetic GeV-scale protons are predicted to efficiently generate via radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) when the foil thickness is matched with the laser intensity, e.g., $L_{mat}$ at several nm to 100 nm with $10^{19}-10^{22}…
The dynamics of transient electric fields generated by the interaction of high intensity laser pulses with underdense plasmas has been studied experimentally with the proton projection imaging technique. The formation of a charged channel,…
Laser-plasma acceleration produces ultrashort, high-brightness ion beams reaching tens of MeV, yet their large divergence and broad energy spread require dedicated capture elements for beam transport. Using laser-accelerated protons from…
We experimentally demonstrate a notably enhanced acceleration of protons to high energy by relatively modest ultrashort laser pulses and structured dynamical plasma targets. Realized by special deposition of snow targets on sapphire…
Proton beams with up to 100 pC bunch charge, 0.48 MeV cut-off energy and divergence as low as a $3^{\circ}$ were generated from solid targets at kHz repetition rate by a few-mJ femtosecond laser under controlled plasma conditions. The beam…
Ultra-intense laser-matter interactions are often difficult to predict from first principles because of the complexity of plasma processes and the many degrees of freedom relating to the laser and target parameters. An important approach to…