Related papers: Laser-driven vacuum breakdown waves
We present space and time resolved measurements of the air hydrodynamics induced by ultrafast laser pulse excitation of the air gap between two electrodes at high potential difference. We explore both plasma-based and plasma-free gap…
Converting light into matter has been a longstanding goal in physics, particularly the creation of electron-positron pairs through quantum electrodynamic (QED) processes. While current approaches using multiple colliding laser pulses can…
This research demonstrates high-repetition-rate laser-accelerated ion beams via dual, intersecting, counterpropagating laser-driven blast waves to precisely shape underdense gas into long-lived near-critical density targets. The collision…
Strong-field quantum electrodynamics predicts electron-seeded electron-positron pair cascades when the electric field in the rest-frame of the seed electron approaches the Sauter-Schwinger field, i.e. $\eta = E_{RF}/E_S \sim 1$. Electrons…
We present a short review of recent progress in studying QED effects of interaction of ultra-relativistic laser pulses with vacuum and $e^-e^+$ plasma. The development of laser technologies promises very rapid growth of laser intensities in…
Frequency up-shifting of laser light in a beam-driven plasma wakefield has the potential to provide high-intensity sources of short wavelength radiation. Simulations have demonstrated that a laser pulse can undergo large frequency shifts,…
Collision of laser-driven subrelativistic high density ion flows provides a way to create extremely compressed ion conglomerates and study their properties. This paper presents a theoretical study of the electrodynamic implosion of ions…
Absorption covers the physical processes which convert intense photon flux into energetic particles when a high-power laser illuminates optically-thick matter. It underpins important petawatt-scale applications today, e.g., medical-quality…
The propagation of a superintense laser pulse in an underdense, inhomogeneous plasma has been studied numerically by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations on a time scale extending up to several picoseconds. The effects of the ion…
An electron injector concept for laser-plasma accelerator was developed in ref [1] and [2] ; it relies on the use of counter-propagating ultrashort laser pulses. In [2], the scheme is as follows: the pump laser pulse generates a large…
We investigate a single-laser scheme for reaching the strong-field QED regime based on direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons followed by their head-on collision with the same laser pulse reflected from an overdense foil. In this…
It is generally believed that relativistically underdense plasma is transparent for intense laser radiation. However, particle-in-cell simulations reveal abnormal laser field absorption above the intensity threshold about~$3 \times…
A two-beam high-power laser facility is essential for the study of one of the most captivating phenomena predicted by strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) and yet unobserved experimentally: the avalanche-type cascade. In such a…
We review recent PIC simulation results which show that double-sided irradiaton of a thin overdense plasma slab by ultra-intense laser pulses from both sides can lead to sustained comoving acceleration of surface electrons to energies much…
We demonstrate that the nontrivial dispersion of a plasma driven by a high-intensity laser pulse qualitatively affects fundamental nonperturbative QED processes triggered by the laser pulse even in the case that no electrons remain in the…
The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the low-energy,…
New laser facilities will reach intensities of $10^{23} \textrm{W cm}^{-2}$. This advance enables novel experimental setups in the study of laser-plasma interaction. In these setups with extreme fields quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects…
Electron self-injection and acceleration until dephasing in the blowout regime is studied for a set of initial conditions typical of recent experiments with 100 terawatt-class lasers. Two different approaches to computationally efficient,…
Laser-induced breakdown has shown many potential applications in the various field of science and engineering. As the breakdown occurs in gas or aerosol, a rapid hydrodynamic expansion as shock (blast) wave initiated from the deposition…
The propagation of intense picosecond laser pulses in air in the presence of strong nonlinear self-action effects and air ionization is investigated experimentally and numerically. The model used for numerical analysis is based on the…