Laser interactions with gas jets: electromagnetic pulse emission and nozzle damage
Year: 2025
Authors: Bradford P.W., Ospina-Bohurquez V., Ehret M., Henares JL., Puyuelo-Valdes P., Chodukowski T., Pisarczyk T., Rusiniak Z., Salgado-Lupez C., Vlachos C., Sciscio M., Salvadori M., Verona C., Hicks G.S., Ettlinger O.C., Najmudin Z., Marquis J.R., Gremillet L., Santos J.J., Consoli F., Tikhonchuk V.T.
Autors Affiliation: Univ Bordeaux, Ctr Lasers Intenses & Applicat, CNRS, CEA, Bordeaux, France; CEA, DAM, DIF, Arpajon, France; Univ Paris Saclay, Bruyeres Le Chatel, France; Ctr Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca, Spain; Inst Plasma Phys & Laser Microfus, Warsaw, Poland; ENEA CR, Frascati, Italy; Univ Roma Tor Vergata, Dipartimento Ing Ind, Rome, Italy; Imperial Coll London, John Adams Inst Accelerator Sci, Blackett Lab, Oxford OX1 3RH, England; Sorbonne Univ, LULI,CNRS,CEA, Palaiseau, France; Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, ELI ERIC, Dolni Brezany, Czech Republic; STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab, UK Res & Innovat, Chilton, England; Ist Nazl Ottica, Consiglio Nazl Ric, CNR INO, Pisa, Italy.
Abstract: Understanding the physics of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) emission and nozzle damage is critical for the long-term operation of laser experiments with gas targets, particularly at facilities looking to produce stable sources of radiation at high repetition rates. We present a theoretical model of plasma formation and electrostatic charging when high-power lasers are focused inside gases. The model can be used to estimate the amplitude of gigahertz EMPs produced by the laser and the extent of damage to the gas jet nozzle. Looking at a range of laser and target properties relevant to existing high-power laser systems, we find that EMP fields of tens to hundreds of kV/m can be generated several metres from the gas jet. Model predictions are compared with measurements of EMPs, plasma formation and nozzle damage from two experiments on the VEGA-3 laser and one experiment on the Vulcan Petawatt laser.
Journal/Review: HIGH POWER LASER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Volume: 12 Pages from: e98-1 to: e98-17
More Information: The authors thank the staff at the VEGA-3 laser facility for their hard work over the course of several experiments. This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No. 101052200 – EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them. The authors acknowledge GENCI for providing them with access to the Joliot-Curie supercomputer (Grants 2021-A0130512993 and 2022-A0130512993). The authors also acknowledge Grant PID2021-125389OA-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE and ’ERDF A way of making Europe’, funded by the European Union. V. Ospina-Bohorquez and C. Vlachos acknowledge support from the LIGHT S&T Graduate Program (PIA3 Investment for the Future Program, ANR-17-EURE-0027). This work received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the European IMPULSE project under grant agreement No. 871161 and from LASERLAB-EUROPE V under grant agreement No. 871124. It is published as part of the international project ’PMW’, co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the framework of the scientific financial resources for 2021-2022 under contract No. 5205/CELIA/2021/0 (project CNRS No. 239915). Finally, the authors acknowledge the financial support of the IdEx University of Bordeaux/Grand Research Program ’GPR LIGHT’.KeyWords: electromagnetic pulse; gas jet; high-power laser; laser plasmaDOI: 10.1017/hpl.2024.73Citations: 1data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2025-03-30References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)