Related papers: Laser-driven vacuum breakdown waves
A QED-based mechanism, breaking translational invariance of the vacuum at sufficiently small distance scales, is suggested as an explanation for the vacuum energy pressure that accelerates the universe. Very-small-scale virtual vacuum…
The absorption of laser energy by plasma is of paramount importance for various applications. Collisional and resonant processes are often invoked for this purpose. However, in some contexts (e.g. in vacuum and the JxB heating), the energy…
We hypothesize that a charged particle in unbounded vacuum can be substantially accelerated by a force linear in the electric field of a propagating electromagnetic wave only if the accelerating field is capable of bringing the particle to…
Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations we show that a strongly nonlinear plasma wave excited by an ultrahigh intensity laser pulse works as a compact high-brightness source of X-ray radiation. It has been recently suggested by…
Long wavelength infrared (LWIR) laser driven plasma wakefield accelerators are investigated here in the self-modulated laser wakefield acceleration (SM-LWFA) and blowout regimes using 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations. The simulation results…
We present a new approach for investigating quantum effects in laser-driven plasma. Unlike the modelling strategies underpinning particle-in-cell codes that include the effects of quantum electrodynamics, our new field theory incorporates…
Ultra-strong laser pulses can be so intense that an electron in the focused beam loses significant energy due to gamma-photon emission while its motion deviates via the radiation back-reaction. Numerical methods and tools designed to…
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…
Ultrafast strong-field laser--plasma physics is shown to offer a promising framework for relativistic nonlinear quantum electrodynamics (QED). As one of its key advantages, this approach to relativistic nonlinear QED does not require an…
The dynamics of an electron bunch irradiated by two focused colliding super-intense laser pulses and the resulting gamma and electron-positron production are studied. Due to attractors of electron dynamics in a standing wave created by…
The interaction of ultraintense laser pulses with solids is largely affected by the plasma gradient at the vacuum-solid interface, which modifies the absorption and ultimately, controls the energy distribution function of heated electrons.…
Electron acceleration by relativistically intense laser beam propagating along a curved surface allows to split softly the accelerated electron bunch and the laser beam. The presence of a curved surface allows to switch an adiabatic…
With today's multi-petawatt lasers, testing quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the strong field regime, where the electric field exceeds the Schwinger critical field in the rest frame of an electron, becomes within reach. Inverse Compton…
Wakefield excitation by structured electron bunches in hollow gaps between plasma wedges is studied using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The main part of the electron bunch has a triangular current distribution in the…
A novel approach to implement and control electron injection into the accelerating phase of a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) is presented. It utilizes a wire, which is introduced into the flow of a supersonic gas jet creating shock…
A new mechanism of enhanced laser energy absorption in plasma microglobules is demonstrated with the help of two-dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations. The mechanism relies on the excitation of surface and bulk waves and the…
The one-dimensional flight of a fast electron flux in plasma is investigated taking into account generation and absorption of plasma waves. The transition from the kinetic description to the gas dynamics is made. The closed set of gas…
We measure the emission of energetic electrons from the interaction between ultrashort laser pulses and a solid density plasma in the relativistic regime. We detect an electron beam that only appears with few-cycle pulses (< 10 fs) and…
An experiment for studying laser self-guiding has been carried out for the high power ultrashort pulse laser interaction with an underdense plasma slab. Formation of an extremely long plasma channel and its bending are observed when the…
Laser-accelerated electron beams have been created at a kHz repetition rate from the {\it reflection} of intense ($\sim10^{18}$ W/cm$^2$), $\sim$40 fs laser pulses focused on a continuous water-jet in an experiment at the Air Force Research…