Related papers: Probing ultrafast laser plasma processes inside so…
Relativistic interaction of short-pulse lasers with underdense plasmas has recently led to the emergence of a novel generation of femtosecond x-ray sources. Based on radiation from electrons accelerated in plasma, these sources have the…
Exploration of a new ultrafast-ultrasmall frontier in atomic and molecular physics has begun. Not only is is possible to control outer-shell electron dynamics with intense ultrafast optical lasers, but now control of inner-shell processes…
The unknown state of matter at ultra-high density, large proton/neutron number asymmetry, and low temperature is a major long-standing problem in modern physics. Neutron stars provide the only known setting in the Universe where matter in…
Understanding the target dynamics during its interaction with a relativistic ultrashort laser pulse is a challenging fundamental multi-physics problem involving at least atomic and solid-state physics, plasma physics, and laser physics.…
When propagating inside dielectrics, an ultrafast Bessel beam creates a high aspect-ratio cylinder of plasma with nanometric diameter that extends over several tens of micrometers to centimeters. We analyze the interaction between the…
When a high-contrast ultra-relativistic laser beam enters a micro-sized plasma waveguide, the pulse energy is coupled into waveguide modes, which remarkably modifies the interaction of electrons and electromagnetic wave. The electrons that…
Compressed ultrafast photography (CUP) is applied to laser breakdown in argon and xenon under pressures up to 40atm to obtain 2D images of the plasma dynamics of single events with a spatial resolution of 250x100 pixels and an equivalent…
We study particle acceleration in strongly turbulent pair plasmas using novel 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations, featuring particle injection from an external heat bath and diffusive escape. We demonstrate the formation of steady-state,…
Accretion dynamics in the forming of young stars is still object of debate because of limitations in observations and modelling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic…
The acceleration of ions in the interaction of high intensity laser pulses with overdense plasmas is investigated with particle-in-cell simulations. For circular polarization of the laser pulses, high-density ion bunches moving into the…
Advances in laser and Z-pinch technology, coupled with the development of plasma diagnostics and the availability of high-performance computers, have recently stimulated the growth of high-energy density laboratory astrophysics. In…
The abundances of gas and dust (solids and complex molecules) in the interstellar medium (ISM) as well as their composition and structures impact practically all of astrophysics. Fundamental processes from star formation to stellar winds to…
Accreting sources such as AGN, X-ray binaries or gamma-ray bursts are known to be strong, high energy emitters. The hard emission is though to originate from plasmas of thermal and/or non-thermal high energy particles. Not only does this…
Long-living, hot and dense plasmas generated by ultra-intense laser beams are of critical importance for laser-driven nuclear physics, bright hard X-ray sources, and laboratory astrophysics. We report the experimental observation of plasmas…
The generation of ultra-strong attosecond pulses through laser-plasma interactions offers the opportunity to surpass the intensity of any known laboratory radiation source, giving rise to new experimental possibilities, such as quantum…
We review studies of superintense laser interaction with solid targets where the generation of propagating surface plasmons (or surface waves) plays a key role. These studies include the onset of plasma instabilities at the irradiated…
Ultracold neutral plasmas, formed by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms near the ionization threshold, have electron temperatures in the 1-1000 kelvin range and ion temperatures from tens of millikelvin to a few kelvin. They represent a new…
Spatial distributions of electrons ionized and scattered from ultra-low pressure gases are proposed and experimentally demonstrated as a method to directly measure the intensity of an ultra-high intensity laser pulse. Analytic models…
Over the last Century the method of particle acceleration to high energies has become the prime approach to explore the fundamental nature of matter in laboratory. It appears that the latest search of the contemporary accelerator based on…
Irradiation of solid surfaces with intense ultrashort laser pulses represents a unique way of depositing energy into materials. It allows to realize states of extreme electronic excitation and/or very high temperature and pressure, and to…