Related papers: Extreme matter compression caused by radiation coo…
We present the results of an experiment on plasma generation via laser ablation at 10^12 W/cm^2 of power intensity and in a nanosecond domain. Prompt electrons emission and complex plasma plume fragmentation were simultaneously observed for…
Laser filamentation is responsible for the deposition of a significant part of the laser pulse energy in the propagation medium. We found that using terawatt laser pulses and relatively tight focusing conditions in air, resulting in a…
Ultra-intense laser pulses can create sufficiently strong fields to probe quantum electrodynamics effects in a novel regime. By colliding a 60 GeV electron bunch with a laser pulse focussed to the maximum achievable intensity of $10^{23}$…
The general idea that optical radiation may cool matter was put forward by Pringsheim already in 1929. Doppler cooling of dilute atomic gases is an extremely successful application of this concept, and more recently anti-Stokes cooling in…
The first laboratory astrophysics experiments to produce a radiatively cooled plasma jet with dynamically significant angular momentum are discussed. A new configuration of wire array z-pinch, the twisted conical wire array, is used to…
We demonstrate the differences in hot electron absorption mechanisms dominant in the interaction of femtosecond laser pulse with intensities 1e18 W/cm2 and 1e21 W/cm2 on fully ionized target with steep density profile and preplasma with…
We briefly report on some results regarding the impact of very short and intense laser pulses on a cold, low-density plasma initially at rest, and the consequent acceleration of plasma electrons to relativistic energies. Locally and for…
In a dense plasma environment, the energy levels of an ion shift relative to the isolated ion values. This shift is reflected in the optical spectrum of the plasma and can be measured in, for example, emission experiments. In this work, we…
When a finite contrast petawatt laser pulse irradiates a micron-thick foil, a prepulse (including amplified spontaneous emission) creates a preplasma, where an ultrashort relativistically strong portion of the laser pulse (the main pulse)…
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 experimental evidence of ultra-high energy density plasma states with the keV bulk electron temperatures and near-solid electron densities generated during the interaction of high contrast, relativistically intense laser pulses…
We present one-dimensional numerical simulations describing the behavior of solid matter exposed to subpicosecond near infrared pulsed laser radiation. We point out to the role of strong isochoric heating as a mechanism for producing highly…
We study the onset of electron heating in intense laser-solid interactions and its impact on the spectral quality of radiation pressure accelerated ions in both hole boring and light sail regimes. Two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell…
The generation of super-high energetic electrons influenced by pre-plasma at relativistic intensity laser-matter interaction is studied in a one-dimensional slab approximation with particle-in-cell simulations. Different pre-plasma…
We present a detailed quantitative description of the recently proposed "slingshot effect" [Fiore, Fedele, De angelis 2014]. Namely, we determine a broad range of conditions under which the impact of a very short and intense laser pulse…
Pairing of particles, in particular electrons, in high temperature plasma is generally not expected to occur. Here we investigate, based on earlier work, the possibility for electron pairing mediated in the presence of various kinds of…
We consider the structure of mildly relativistic shocks in dense media, taking into account the radiation and pair loading, and diffusive radiation energy transfer within the flow. For increasing shock velocity (increasing post-shock…
Experiments with interacting high-velocity flows of laser plasma can help answer the fundamental questions in plasma physics and improve the understanding of the mechanisms behind astrophysical phenomena, such as formation of collisionless…
Ion acceleration using a laser pulse irradiating a thin disk target is examined using three-dimensional and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. A laser pulse of $620$ TW, with an intensity of $5\times 10^{21}$ W/cm$^{2}$ and a…
It is quite plausible that the mass of the dark matter particle increases significantly after its freeze-out, due to a scalar field rolling to large values. We describe a realization of this scenario in the context of thermal inflation…